Unravelling unexpected impacts of pharmaceuticals on mollusc development.

This project investigates how drugs designed to treat prostate cancer make snail shells not curly. Molluscs comprise a large and diverse phylum, second only to Arthropoda in the number of species. Pollution from agriculture, industry and households (e.g. via sewage effluents) can pose a significant threat to mollusc populations, for example Tributyl tin boat paints unexpectedly disrupting development and reproduction of molluscs living near harbours causing well-documented local extinctions. Surprisingly, compared to other groups of animals (e.g. vertebrates, arthropods, etc.), much of fundamental molluscan biology is not well characterised, which prevents proper chemical risk assessment to protect these species.

Recent research has shown that although molluscs do not have many of the steroid hormones found in vertebrates, they do share some evolutionary conserved steroidogenic enzymes with vertebrates and even plants (e.g. 5α-reductase (5αR), known as DET2 in plants). In gastropod molluscs, disruption to these enzymes by pharmaceuticals has significant impacts on embryo development, body patterning and growth. This project will use a combination of environmental toxicology and Omics (e.g. metabolomics, lipidomics) approaches to address critical gaps in endocrinology process of molluscs. The outcome could also inform possible mechanistic endpoints and biomarkers for inclusion in chemical regulatory testing guidelines for molluscs to provide better environmental protection.