Document Author: Austin Love

Executive Summary: Mussel Oiling and Genetic Response to the April 2020 Valdez Marine Terminal Spill

When a mussel is exposed to a chemical irritant such as crude oil, certain genes respond, triggering mRNA to carry a message to the mussel’s cells. That message tells the cells how to deal with the irritant. Every irritant triggers a different pattern of genes. The scientists looked for the genetic and chemical response patterns unique to crude oil.

Their analysis showed that both oil concentrations and gene response spiked then decreased with time, however the genetic response peaked at a later time.

This document is the executive summary. See also: Full report.

Port Valdez Mussel Transcriptomics

Transcriptomics involves measuring how particular genes are being expressed in an organism of interest, in this case blue mussels. The particular genes are linked to environmental stressors including ocean acidification, temperature, disease, heavy metal contamination, and oil pollution.

In June 2019, mussels were collected from sampling locations in Port Valdez to measure if they were subject to any of those environmental stressors. The 2019 transcriptomic results showed that the blue mussels were responding to heavy metal contamination and oil pollution in Port Valdez. This pilot project will continue in 2020, and the results from the 2019 and 2020 work will be used to determine if transcriptomics should become a regular part of the Council’s LTEMP.

2013-2017 Valdez Marine Terminal Water Quality Data Review

The information focuses on water quality data gathered and reported by Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (Alyeska) to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 2013-2017.

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