Expression of three novel cytochrome P450 (CYP) and antioxidative genes from the polychaete, Perinereis nuntia exposed to water accommodated fraction (WAF) of Iranian crude oil and Benzo[a] pyrene Eun-Ji Won a, b , Jae-Sung Rhee a , Kyung-Hoon Shin b , Jee-Hyun Jung d , Won Joon Shim d , Young-Mi Lee c, * , Jae-Seong Lee a, e, ** a Research Institute for Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, South Korea b Department of Environmental Marine Sciences, College of Science and Technology, Hanyang University, Ansan 426-791, South Korea c Department of Green Life Science, College of Convergence, Sangmyung University, Seoul 110-743, South Korea d Oil and POPS Research Group, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, Geoje 656-830, South Korea e Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, South Korea article info Article history: Received 2 March 2013 Received in revised form 28 May 2013 Accepted 30 May 2013 Keywords: Polychaete Perinereis nuntia Cytochrome P450 Water accommodated fraction WAF Benzo[a]pyrene Antioxidant genes abstract To report a novel CYP genes and to evaluate its potency as a biomarker for oil pollution, we cloned three CYP genes and measured their expression profiles under controlled lab conditions using real-time reverse transcription PCR (real-time RT-PCR) after exposure of the water accommodated fraction (WAF) of Iranian crude oil and benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) as a positive control. Of these, CYP432A1 (CYP3 clan) gene was significantly induced by B[a]P exposure, indicating that the CYP3 clan gene would play an important role in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) metabolisms, particularly for B[a]P in this species. However, the Perinereis nuntia CYP431A1 mRNA, a CYP2 clan gene, was sensitively expressed to WAF exposure with other two CYP genes. As one of Phase II detoxification enzymes, the glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes also upregulated with other antioxidant genes (SOD and CAT), indicating that WAF-exposed P. nuntia was properly responding to this kind of chemical stress. Thus, three CYP genes from the polychaete, P. nuntia have a potential as a biomarker in monitoring of the marine sediment after an oil spill accident. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years, various anthropogenic activities have aggra- vated the pollution of the marine environment with organic and inorganic pollutants (Van der Oost et al., 2003; Vasseur and Cossu- Legulille, 2006). Of them, accidental inflows of crude oil during exploitation and spillage caused unexpected repercussions on marine ecosystems since several decades. It has been reported that fish, mussels, and other marine organisms living in the spill path were affected and accumulated petroleum hydrocarbons derived from spilled oil (Neff and Burns, 1996). Crude oil is a mixture of various compounds that include poly- cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), alkylated hydrocarbons, and small amounts of non-hydrocarbons such as sulphur and metals (Amoil et al., 2006). In general, PAHs are known as persistent, toxic, and sometimes carcinogenic compounds (Meador et al., 1995), and alkylated PAHs also are toxic as parent PAHs (Hawkins et al., 2002). Furthermore, PAHs are prone to attack DNA by reactive metabolites, resulting in forming PAH-DNA adducts (Xue and Warshawsky, 2005). Their lipophilic characteristic can also be a great concern causing bioaccumulation and biomagnification (Meador et al., 1995). Thus, oil pollution in marine ecosystem can cause adverse effects on diverse organisms through the food web structure. The toxic effects of oil pollution and PAHs on aquatic organisms have received much attention. However, there are only a few studies focussing on the physiological effects of benthic organisms in sediment monitoring. To date, several researches have been focussing on changes of community structures during long term * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ82 2 2220 0769; fax: þ82 2 2299 9450. ** Corresponding author. Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, South Korea. Tel.: þ82 2 2220 0769; fax: þ82 2 2299 9450. E-mail addresses: ymlee@smu.ac.kr (Y.-M. Lee), jslee2@hanyang.ac.kr (J.-S. Lee). Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Marine Environmental Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marenvrev 0141-1136/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2013.05.014 Marine Environmental Research 90 (2013) 75e84