Blood transcriptome responses to PFOA and GenX treatment in the marsupial biomedical model Monodelphis domestica

The objective of our study is to investigate the effect of PFOA and GenX on the gene expression levels in Monodelphis domestica whole blood cultures by RNA-seq and identify the major susceptible genes. We identified 578 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the PFOA treatment group and 148 DEGs in the GenX treatment group. 10 genes were selected for qRT-PCR validation and were confirmed to be DEGs. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that several developmental processes were altered after PFOA exposure and showed an up-regulated pattern. And down-regulated DEGs after PFOA exposure were enriched for metabolic process and immune system process. GenX exposure is associated with up-regulated fatty acid transport pathways and inflammatory process. Our study is the first one to investigate the effects of PFASs on marsupial animals, providing supportive evidence of the similar transcriptomic alterations caused by PFOA and a fluorinated alternative GenX, which can work as a complement of the previous studies of PFASs effects on rodent or human. Overall design: Monodelphis domestica (LSD strain) whole blood culture samples under PFOA treatment (n=4) and GenX treatment (n=2) compared to control samples (n=4). Monodelphis domestica (LSD strain) whole blood culture samples in 5 timepoints (0h, 12h, 24h, 48h, 72h) without treatment (n=14).