Lipidomic alteration and stress-defense mechanism of soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in response to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field exposure.

Ecotoxicology and environmental safety · 2019 · Harm · Low evidence

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HarmLow evidencePaper 5506

C. elegans exposed to 50 Hz, 3 mT ELF-EMF showed significant lipidomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic changes, including elevated triacylglycerols and altered expression of proteins and genes. GO/pathway analyses indicated lipid metabolism alteration, mitocho…

Study snapshot

PublicationEcotoxicology and environmental safety · 2019

Study typeanimal

Reported directionHarm

Evidence ratingLow

Abstract

To assess the impacts of man-made extremely low-frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) on soil ecosystems, the soil nematode was applied as a biological indicator to characterize ecotoxicity of ELF-EMF. In this paper, a soil-living model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) was exposed to 50 Hz, 3 mT ELF-EMF. The integrated lipidome, proteome and transcriptome analysis were applied to elucidate physiological acclimations. Lipidomic analysis showed that ELF-EMF exposure induced significant alterations of 64 lipids, including significant elevation of triacylglycerols (TGs). Proteome results implied 157 changed protein expressions under ELF-EMF exposure. By transcriptomic analysis, 456 differently expressed genes were identified. Gene Ontology (GO) function and pathway analyses showed lipidomic alteration, mitochondrial dysfunction and the stress defense responses following ELF-EMF exposure in C. elegans. Conjoint analysis of proteome and transcriptome data showed that a higher expression of genes (sip-1, mtl-1 and rpl-11.1, etc.) were involved in stress defense responses to ELF-EMF exposure. These results indicated that ELF-EMF can induce effects on soil nematodes, mainly through disturbing lipid metabolism such as increasing TGs content, and eliciting stress defense responses. This study provided a new understanding in ELF-EMF exposure effects on soil nematodes and suggested a potential way of interpreting ELF-EMF influences on soil ecosystems.

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AI evidence extraction

Structured fields below were generated from the paper’s abstract and metadata to make the evidence easier to inspect. Automated extraction may be incomplete or incorrect; verify important details against the original paper.

Study typeanimal

Effect directionharm

PopulationSoil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans)

Sample sizeNot supplied

ExposureELF · 0.05 MHz

Evidence strengthLowConfidence: 78% · Peer reviewed: yes

Main findings

Outcomes measured

Lipidomic alterations (64 lipids; triacylglycerols elevated)
Proteomic changes (157 proteins)
Transcriptomic changes (456 differentially expressed genes)
Gene Ontology/pathway signals: lipid metabolism alteration, mitochondrial dysfunction, stress defense responses
Expression of stress defense-related genes (e.g., sip-1, mtl-1, rpl-11.1)

Limitations

Exposure duration not reported in abstract
Sample size not reported in abstract
Endpoints are largely omics-based; organism-level functional/ecological outcomes not described in abstract

View raw extracted JSON

{
  "study_type": "animal",
  "exposure": {
    "band": "ELF",
    "source": "other",
    "frequency_mhz": 0.05,
    "sar_wkg": null,
    "duration": null
  },
  "population": "Soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans)",
  "sample_size": null,
  "outcomes": [
    "Lipidomic alterations (64 lipids; triacylglycerols elevated)",
    "Proteomic changes (157 proteins)",
    "Transcriptomic changes (456 differentially expressed genes)",
    "Gene Ontology/pathway signals: lipid metabolism alteration, mitochondrial dysfunction, stress defense responses",
    "Expression of stress defense-related genes (e.g., sip-1, mtl-1, rpl-11.1)"
  ],
  "main_findings": "C. elegans exposed to 50 Hz, 3 mT ELF-EMF showed significant lipidomic, proteomic, and transcriptomic changes, including elevated triacylglycerols and altered expression of proteins and genes. GO/pathway analyses indicated lipid metabolism alteration, mitochondrial dysfunction, and activation of stress defense responses following ELF-EMF exposure.",
  "effect_direction": "harm",
  "limitations": [
    "Exposure duration not reported in abstract",
    "Sample size not reported in abstract",
    "Endpoints are largely omics-based; organism-level functional/ecological outcomes not described in abstract"
  ],
  "evidence_strength": "low",
  "confidence": 0.78,
  "peer_reviewed_likely": "yes",
  "keywords": [
    "ELF-EMF",
    "50 Hz",
    "3 mT",
    "Caenorhabditis elegans",
    "soil ecosystem",
    "ecotoxicity",
    "lipidomics",
    "proteomics",
    "transcriptomics",
    "triacylglycerols",
    "mitochondrial dysfunction",
    "stress defense response"
  ],
  "suggested_hubs": [
    {
      "slug": "occupational-exposure",
      "weight": 0.2,
      "reason": "Study involves man-made ELF-EMF exposure (50 Hz), though not explicitly occupational."
    }
  ]
}

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AI-extracted fields are generated from the abstract and metadata and may be incomplete or incorrect. This material is for informational purposes and is not medical advice.

Identifiers and source

DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2018.11.137
PubMed: 30579161

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