Transcriptomic Responses to Pharmaceutical-Laden Wastewater Effluent Exposure in Etheostoma spp. from the Grand River

Aquatic organisms, such as fish, are in constant contact with various anthropogenic stressors present in their environments, including contaminants from wastewater treatment plant effluents (WWTPE). WWTPE represents a pervasive source of pharmaceutically active compounds in surface waters This study investigates the effects of WWTPE exposure on Etheostoma spp. (darters) using hepatic transcriptomic profiling. Wild darters—Etheostoma caeruleum (rainbow darter), Etheostoma blennioides (greenside darter), Etheostoma flabellare (fantail darter), and Etheostoma nigrum (Johnny darter)—were collected upstream and downstream of the Waterloo municipal WWTP effluent outfall (Grand River, ON). Overall design: mRNA-seq profiling of liver tissue from populations of rainbow, fantail, johnny, and greenside darters collected upstream and downstream of the Waterloo Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant effluent outfall (Grand River, ON, Canada).