(full paper is archived in the Miller Library)
Title: Multixenobiotic resistance and its relationship to toxins in the habitat of Urechis caupo
Student Author(s): Mireles, Maria A.
Faculty Advisor(s): Epel, David
Pages: 27
Location: Final Papers Biology 175H
Date: June 1993
Abstract: The echiuroid worm Urechis caupo is one of the many marine invertebrates that is able to live and reproduce in a polluted environment. One proposed explanation for this worm's resistance to pollutants is the multixenobiotic resistance (MXR) mechanism, whereby a protein in the cell membrane pumps a wide variety of moderately hydrophobic compounds out of the cells. This protein is analogous to multidrug resistance (MDR) in mammalian cells which provides mammalian cells with multidrug resistance to chemotherapuetic agents. These data support the role of MXR as a protective mechanism for marine invertebrates, suggest bioassays for pollutants, and propose that the phenomenons of hormesis and multixenobiotic resistance are related.