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Pesticides are defined as chemical substances used to protect a variety of plants from parasite infestation. Due to their chemical structure, they have a long half-life and the capacity to form residues, and therefore many fruits can contain pesticide residues. Pesticide exposure may occur via inhalation, ingestion, or direct contact. The European Commission's directive restricts the use of pesticides and sets a residue limit of 0.1 μg/L. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of bacteria in the human gut microbiota on the biodegradation of commonly used pesticides. This study investigated the effects of five bacterial strains, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae), and Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), isolated from neonatal rectal swab samples and, blood samples on the degradation of pesticides using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. (LC-MS). All bacteria resulted in significant pesticide degradation (p < 0.05). E. faecalis caused significantly more degradation than K. pneumoniae (p = 0.043). No significant difference was observed between the degradation rates of pesticides and other bacteria (p > 0.05). The results demonstrate that bacteria can be used to clean water and soil contaminated with pesticides. Therefore, we do not have information about possible mutations in DNA. This is the biggest limitation of this study. Therefore, our study data needs to be supported with study data including more strains and examining bacterial DNA with new generation sequencing methods.

Earthworms are ecosystem engineers, owed to their ability to modify the soil resources for other organisms through induction of important changes in the state of the biotic and abiotic soil components. They are very sensitive small invertebrate animals to agricultural pesticides, as well as the best soil pollution bioindicators. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the effects of an herbicide (Linuron) induced changes in major biochemical markers (the content of total protein, total carbohydrate, total lipid, and catalase activity) in Lumbricus terrestris. Statistical analysis of data revealed significant differences in the content of total proteins, lipids, and total carbohydrates, and no significant difference in catalase activity between control and Linurontreated L. terrestris over the three exposure periods (24 h, 48 h, and 72 h) and the three doses used (250 µg, 500 µg, and 1000 µg). Moreover, correlation coefficient analysis showed a positive correlation between protein and lipid contents (r = 0.50, r2 = 50%) during all three exposure periods. Conclusively, this study suggested the determined metabolites as a valuable tools in the environmental risk assessment, and the understanding of the process underlying Linuron induced oxidative stress in L. terrestris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation in agriculture chemicals and delivery systems is essential for the production of food for sustainable development. Herein, natural polymers and agar-gelatin-derived controlled delivery devices for linuron herbicide to prevent environmental and health hazards. These hydrogels were designed by the graft-copolymerization reaction of poly(methacrylamide) [poly(MAAm)] on agar-gelatin for use as controlled-release formulations (CRF). Copolymers were characterized by Copolymers were characterized scanning electron micrographs (SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and thermogravimetric analysis -differential thermogravimetry (TGA-DTG) techniques. SEM shows the uneven surface morphology, and AFM showed a rough surface with an average roughness value of 137.50 nm in the polymeric matrix. The amorphous nature of the polymer was confirmed with XRD techniques. Grafting of the poly(MAAm) on the agar and gelatin was confirmed by FTIR and 13C NMR spectra. Agar-gelatin-cl-poly(MAAm) hydrogels absorbed water at 4.05 ± 0.32 g per gram, which is useful for soil water retention. Release of the linuron herbicide occurred in a controlled manner during 72 h of observations and followed non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. The slow release of the linuron from the hydrogel is a useful observation for preventing leaching and evaporation loss of herbicide. In the soil column, the release of linuron occurred in a slow and sustained manner for 240 h. A soil adsorption study showed a decrease in ground water ubiquity score (GUS) for linuron-encapsulated hydrogel as compared to commercial formulations. It can reduce groundwater contamination risk due to the leaching of the linuron herbicide. Degradation of CRF may improve micronutrient and soil quality.

The unsustainable use of manmade chemicals poses significant threats to biodiversity and human health. Emerging evidence highlights the potential of certain chemicals to cause transgenerational impacts on metabolic health. Here, we investigate male transmitted epigenetic transgenerational effects of the anti-androgenic herbicide linuron in the pancreas of Xenopus tropicalis frogs, and their association with metabolic phenotypes. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) was used to assess genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in the pancreas of adult male F2 generation ancestrally exposed to environmentally relevant linuron levels (44 ± 4.7 μg/L). We identified 1117 differentially methylated regions (DMRs) distributed across the X. tropicalis genome, revealing potential regulatory mechanisms underlying metabolic disturbances. DMRs were identified in genes crucial for pancreatic function, including calcium signalling (clstn2, cacna1d and cadps2), genes associated with type 2 diabetes (tcf7l2 and adcy5) and a biomarker for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (plec). Correlation analysis revealed associations between DNA methylation levels in these genes and metabolic phenotypes, indicating epigenetic regulation of glucose metabolism. Moreover, differential methylation in genes related to histone modifications suggests alterations in the epigenetic machinery. These findings underscore the long-term consequences of environmental contamination on pancreatic function and raise concerns about the health risks associated with transgenerational effects of pesticides. [Display omitted] • Linuron exposure caused transgenerational epigenetic changes in frog pancreas. • 1117 Differentially Methylated Regions (DMRs) in F2 male X. tropicalis. • DMRs in genes related to F2 phenotypical metabolic changes. • Levels of methylation in relevant genes were correlated with plasma glucose levels. • Methylation of T2D markers tcf7l2 and adcy5 correlated to glucose metabolism changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A two-year field experiment was conducted at experimental farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Egypt during both 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 successive winter growing seasons to the effect of some pre and postemergence herbicides on physiological and histological characters, productivity and quality of carrots (cv. "Tokita"). Each experiment included nine weed control treatments which consists of four herbicides (three herbicides used as pre-emergence i. e. prometryn 312.5 or 625g; linuron 112.5 or 225g and pendimethalin 425 or 850 g a. i./fed. while the other herbicide i. e. fluazifop-p-butyl 62.5 g was used as post-emergence, and hand hoeing twice (at 30 and 45 DAS) and weedy chick. Significant differences on chlorophyll content (chi. a, b and total) were induced during the both seasons. Prometryn gave the highest value of chlorophyll a. Pendimethalin gave the highest value of RWC and least of LWD. The highest values of carrot root half diameters and cortex tissue thickness were detected by pendimethalin treatment. All tested herbicides gave the highest values of quality characters in carrot roots, followed by hand weeding of the annual weeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The herbicide linuron can cause endocrine disrupting effects in Xenopus tropicalis frogs, including offspring that were never exposed to the contaminant. The mechanisms by which these effects are transmitted across generations need to be further investigated. Here, we examined transgenerational alterations of brain and testis DNA methylation profiles paternally inherited from grandfathers developmentally exposed to an environmentally relevant concentration of linuron. Reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS) revealed numerous differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in brain (3060 DMRs) and testis (2551 DMRs) of the adult male F2 generation. Key genes in the brain involved in somatotropic (igfbp4) and thyrotropic signaling (dio1 and tg) were differentially methylated and correlated with phenotypical alterations in body size, weight, hind limb length and plasma glucose levels, indicating that these methylation changes could be potential mediators of the transgenerational effects of linuron. Testis DMRs were found in genes essential for spermatogenesis, meiosis and germ cell development (piwil1, spo11 and tdrd9) and their methylation levels were correlated with the number of germ cells nests per seminiferous tubule, an endpoint of disrupted spermatogenesis. DMRs were also identified in several genes central for the machinery that regulates the epigenetic landscape including DNA methylation (dnmt3a and mbd2) and histone acetylation (hdac8, ep300, elp3, kat5 and kat14), which may at least partly drive the linuron-induced transgenerational effects. The results from this genome-wide DNA methylation profiling contribute to better understanding of potential transgenerational epigenetic inheritance mechanisms in amphibians., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. All work was carried out when employed at Uppsala University. Sofie Svanholm is now employed at The Swedish Chemicals Agency but The Swedish Chemicals Agency was not involved in any part of this study. The views expressed in this study are that of the author alone and do not reflect those of the Swedish Chemicals Agency., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although the herbicide linuron is banned for use in the EU due to its reproductive and developmental toxicity, it can still be found in randomly sampled foods grown in and outside the EU. It is not clear if metabolites of linuron can contribute to the endocrine disrupting effects following exposure to the parent compound. To address this gap, we analysed linuron and the metabolites 1-(3,4-dichlorophenyl) urea (DCU), 3,4-dichloroaniline (DCA) and 1-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-3-methoxyurea (DCXU) for androgen receptor (AR) activities and effects on steroidogenesis. Generally, linuron and the metabolites showed qualitatively similar antiandrogenic profiles, but potencies varied. All compounds were AR antagonists, with linuron showing highest potency (IC 50 of 2.8 μM). The overall picture of effects on steroidogenesis showed that linuron and metabolites increased the levels of estrogens and corticosteroids, whereas the synthesis of androgens was inhibited. The metabolite DCU was by far the most potent inhibitor of testosterone synthesis (IC 50 of 6.7 μM compared to IC 50 of 51.1 μM for linuron). We suggest that it is likely that the metabolites contribute to the antiandrogenic effects of linuron in vivo , especially by inhibiting testosterone synthesis. [Display omitted] • Potency ranking for hAR antagonism: Linuron > DCXU > DCA > DCU. • Metabolite DCU is the most potent testosterone synthesis inhibitor in vitro. • The metabolites may contribute to linuron-induced male reproductive toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Maternal occupational exposure to pesticides has been linked to adverse birth outcomes but associations with residential pesticide exposures are inconclusive., Objectives: To explore associations between residential exposure to specific pesticides and birth outcomes using individual level exposure and pregnancy/birth data., Methods: From all 2009-2013 singleton births in the Dutch birth registry, we selected mothers > 16 years old living in non-urban areas, who had complete address history and changed addresses at most once during pregnancy (N = 339,947). We estimated amount (kg) of 139 active ingredients (AI) used within buffers of 50, 100, 250 and 500 m around each mother's home during pregnancy. We used generalized linear models to investigate associations between 12 AIs with evidence of reproductive toxicity and gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW), perinatal mortality, child́s sex, prematurity, low birth weight (LBW), small for gestational age (SGA) and large for gestational age (LGA), adjusting for individual and area-level confounders. For the remainder 127 AIs, we used minimax concave penalty with a stability selection step to identify those that could be related to birth outcomes., Results: Regression analyses showed that maternal residential exposure to fluroxypyr-meptyl was associated with longer GA, glufosinate-ammonium with higher risk of LBW, linuron with higher BW and higher odds of LGA, thiacloprid with lower odds of perinatal mortality and vinclozolin with longer GA. Variable selection analysis revealed that picoxystrobin was associated with higher odds of LGA. We found no evidence of associations with other AIs. Sensitivity and additional analysis supported these results except for thiacloprid., Discussion: In this exploratory study, pregnant women residing near crops where fluroxypyr-meptyl, glufosinate-ammonium, linuron, vinclozolin and picoxystrobin were applied had higher risk for certain potentially adverse birth outcomes. Our findings provide leads for confirmatory investigations on these compounds and/or compounds with similar modes of action., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Herbicides are routinely used to control noxious plants. Most of these chemicals may cause toxicity and endocrine disruption in humans and wildlife., Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the influence of linuron on thyroid hormone levels and some hepatic and renal parameters and organ (thyroid, liver and kidney) structures to assume their toxicity toward experimental animals and to evaluate the endocrine disrupting capacity of this chemical., Methods: Two groups (8 rats each) were used for an in vivo study. The lot I served as control. Lot II was exposed to 40 mg/200 mg/day pesticide for 50 days. Changes in hepatic and renal parameters and histological structure were investigated in different treated groups., Results: Data from this study showed that linuron altered thyroid function as evidenced by abnormal TSH, T4, and T3 levels. Furthermore, exposure to linuron induces a significant decrease in body weight and a significant increase in aspartate aminotransferase, alanine transaminase, total bilirubin, uric acid, creatinine, glutathione, and malondialdehyde. Previous data were confirmed through the histopathological examination of different organs., Conclusions: The most used phenylurea herbicide, linuron, disrupted thyroid function at a 40 mg/200 mg/day dose and produced oxidative stress in the liver and kidney in male Wistar rats. The data of this study warrant further investigation., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

In agro-areas, linuron (LNR) and amino-triazole (ATZ) are the widely used herbicides to protect crops, but their widespread use pollutes the environment, especially when these are mixed with water or soil. In efforts to address these environmental issues and to detect trace quantities of the herbicides, a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4) with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) modified carbon paste electrode (g–C 3 N 4 –CTAB/CPE) was developed and used for the detection of LNR and ATZ. Materials were characterized by XRD, TEM and AFM techniques. The effect of pH on electro-oxidation (under optimized conditions) showed the maximum peak current at pH of 4.2 for AMT and pH 6.0 for LNR. The electro−kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of LNR and ATZ were determined. Additional experiments were performed for the trace level detection of ATZ and LNR using the square wave voltammetric technique. Concentrations were varied linearly in the range of 3.0 × 10−7 M to 4.5 × 10−5 M for ATZ with a detection limit of 6.41 × 10−8 M, and 1.2 × 10−7 M to 3.0 × 10−4 M for LNR with a detection limit of 2.47 × 10−8 M. The developed novel sensor was effective for trace level detection of LNR and ATZ in water and soil samples. • A sensors was prepared from g-C 3 N 4 with CTAB composite for detection of ATZ and LNR. • The materials developed were characterized by TEM, XRD, and AFM. • Electro-oxidation of both ATZ and LNR was diffusion controlled. • Analysis was done at the detection limit of 6.41 × 10−8 M for ATZ and 2.47 × 10−8 M for LNR. • The prototype was employed to analyze ATZ and LNR in spiked water and soil samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrochemical performance of linuron (LNR) was studied by fabricating the carbon paste electrode (CPE) using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) along with zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (MWCNTs/ZnO/CPE). The influence of electro-kinetic specifications involving steady heterogeneous rate, pH, sweep rate, temperature effect, transfer coefficient, accumulation time, activation energy, as well as the total number of protons and electrons participating in electro-oxidation of LNR has been established using voltammetric techniques like cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square wave voltammetry (SWV). These techniques were applied to investigate LNR in real samples such as soil including water samples. Over the 0.02 μM-0.34 μM ranges, a linear relationship was confirmed along with the limit of detection and quantification (LOD and LOQ) of the LNR. The synthesized ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The MWCNTs/ZnO/CPE sensor was considered sensitive for LNR detection because the sensor exhibited enhanced catalytic qualities with peak current in the involvement of 0.2 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 6.0, attributed to the ultimate sensing performance of the sensor., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)