CYP1A gene expression in seaside sparrows collected from oiled and unoiled plots in Plaquemines Parish, LA, 2011-2014

Cytochrome p450 1A (CYP1A) gene expression is a commonly used indicator of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs -an organic compound in oil) exposure. We compared CYP1A gene expression levels in seaside sparrows (SESP) with the amount of oil present in the environment, as measured in sediment samples collected by Coastal Waters Consortium researchers (GRIIDC dataset R4.x264.000:0056). After initial data analysis indicated both CYP1A and hydrocarbons increased after a hurricane (Hurricane Isaac), we selected a subset of samples from R4.x264.000:0056 for oil-source fingerprinting in order to determine if the hydrocarbons in samples collected after the hurricane could be fingerprinted back to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (fingerprinted samples can be referenced to R4.x264.000:0056 by using the ‘LSU Sample ID#’). The current dataset contains information regarding the field capture of seaside sparrows (including date, location of capture, age, and sex), dates of each major laboratory procedure and the RQ values for three genes: CYP1A5 (the gene of interest), PPIA and RPL4 (reference ‘housekeeping’ genes). It also contains data from the selected fingerprinted sediment samples mentioned above. Additional dataset authors: Christine Bergeon Burns, Stefan Woltmann, Philip Stouffer, Edward Overton, and Buffy Meyer.