Study on the stereoselective behaviors of fosthiazate stereoisomers in legume vegetables by supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS)

Understanding phytotoxicity of fosthiazate on crop seedlings through uptake kinetics, ROS burst and chloroplast metabolism

As a crucial management strategy for crop diseases, pests and weeds, the use of pesticides can also have some adverse effects on plant health. Understanding the specific mechanisms is essential for developing effective mitigation measure. However, most studies on phytotoxicity mechanism have focused on ionic balance and biochemical responses, with little consideration given to pesticide distributions within plants. Herein, symptoms and the underlying mechanisms of fosthiazate phytotoxicity to crops represented by tomatoes were investigated. Necrotic leaf edge and the root inhibition of tomato seedlings was observed after fosthiazate soil applied at the maximum registered dose. Given its high hydrophilicity, fosthiazate dissolved in soil solution was readily absorbed by plant roots and efficiently translocated upward via the transpiration stream, leading to varying concentrations across different organs and thus differential phytotoxicity. As fosthiazate accumulates, it induced plasmolysis, triggered reactive oxygen species (ROS) bursts, and disrupted photosynthesis, resulting in leaf wilting and necrotic. The interference of sucrose synthesis, transport and metabolism further inhibited root growth. Fosthiazate-loaded microcapsules could alleviate its phytotoxicity by slowing down the release rate. Our findings provided an important basis for the improvement of pesticide application safety and guiding the development of chemicals targets at specific organisms.

Fosthiazate, a soil-applied nematicide, induces oxidative stress, neurotoxicity and transcriptome aberrations in earthworm (Eisenia fetida)

Fosthiazate is a widely used organophosphorus nematicide that resides in the soil and controls soil root-knot nematodes. However, whether it has toxic effects on non-target soil organisms such as earthworms is unclear. Therefore, in this study, a 28-day experiment of fosthiazate exposure was conducted using the Eisenia fetida as the model organism. The results showed that fosthiazate stress caused excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), increased the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and decreased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), suggesting that fosthiazate induced oxidative stress and DNA damage in E. fetida. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was significantly reduced, and the expression of its related functional genes was also altered, demonstrating that fosthiazate damaged the nervous system of E. fetida, which was further confirmed by AlphaFold2 modeling and molecular docking simulations. Furthermore, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis indicated that fosthiazate exposure may induce apoptosis, inflammation, and viral infection in E. fetida, which adversely affect the organism. This study provides reference data for the ecotoxicity of fosthiazate.

Fosthiazate exposure induces oxidative stress, nerve damage, and reproductive disorders in nontarget nematodes

As a forceful nematicide, fosthiazate has been largely applied in the management of root-knot nematodes and other herbivorous nematodes. However, the toxicity of fosthiazate to nontarget nematodes is unclear. To explore the toxicity and the mechanisms of fosthiazate in nontarget nematodes, Caenorhabditis elegans was exposed to 0.01-10 mg/L fosthiazate. The results implied that treatment with fosthiazate at doses above 0.01 mg/L could cause injury to the growth, locomotion behavior, and reproduction of the nematodes. Moreover, L1 larvae were more vulnerable to fosthiazate exposure than L4 larvae. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipofuscin accumulation were fairly increased in 1 mg/L fosthiazate-exposed nematodes. Treatment with 0.1 mg/L fosthiazate significantly inhibited the activity of acetylcholinesterase (p < 0.01). Furthermore, subacute exposure to 10 mg/L fosthiazate strongly influenced the expression of genes related to oxidative stress, reproduction, and nerve function (e.g., gst-1, sod-1, puf-8, wee-1.3, and ace-1 genes). These findings suggested that oxidative stress, reproduction and nerve disorders could serve as key endpoints of toxicity induced by fosthiazate. The cyp-35a family gene was the main metabolic fosthiazate in C. elegans, and the cyp-35a5 subtype was the most sensitive, with a change in expression level of 2.11-fold compared with the control. These results indicate that oxidative stress and neurological and reproductive disorders played fundamental roles in the toxicity of fosthiazate in C. elegans and may affect the abundance and function of soil nematodes.

Evaluation of Chiral Fungicide Penflufen in Legume Vegetables: Enantioseparation and Its Mechanism, Enantioselective Behaviors, and Risk Assessment

Illustrating the enantioselective behaviors of the novel chiral fungicide penflufen was extremely important for ecological safety and human health. For penflufen enantiomers, an excellent separation method including a short analysis time (4 min), a high sensitivity (2 ng/g), and lesser consumption of an organic solvent was first established through supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The enantioseparation mechanism was explained by computational chemistry, and the stronger binding ability of S-(+)-penflufen with cellulose tris-(3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate) (the chiral stationary phase OZ-3 column) contributed to the posterior elution. In legume vegetables, penflufen dissipation was the fastest in Pisum sativum Linn plants (half-life, 1 day) and the slowest in Glycine max plants (half-lives, 11.3-12.9 days). After 30, 50, and 40 days, the rac-penflufen residues were lower than the maximum residue level value in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (10 ng/g) in G. max, P. sativum Linn, and Vigna unguiculata, respectively. Abundant S-(+)-penflufen was found in these plants with stereoisomeric excess (se) changes being >10% in the initial stage, so the risk assessment might be driven by S-(+)-penflufen. However, the se changes were <10% in V. unguiculata plants, and the risk assessment might be calculated based on rac-penflufen. Moreover, penflufen enantiomers could be transferred from legume vegetables to soils, and the concentrations increased with time. The high persistence and medium mobility of penflufen in soils might lead to potential groundwater contamination, which was noteworthy. These results could contribute to a more accurate risk assessment of penflufen in legume vegetables.

Enantioselective Dissipation, Residue, and Risk Assessment of Diniconazole Enantiomers in Four Kinds of Fruits

Chiral diniconazole is a widely used triazole fungicide, while its enantioselective behaviors in fruits have not been reported. In this article, the absolute configuration was confirmed. A fast supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (SFC-MS/MS) method was developed for the chiral separation and enantioselective study of diniconazole in four kinds of fruits. The residual concentrations gradually decreased with time in four kinds of fruits after applying diniconazole. The dissipation half-lives of R-diniconazole and S-diniconazole were in the range of 5.3-7.9 and 2.5-7.1 days respectively, and S-diniconazole was degraded preferentially. The residue concentrations were lower than the EU's MRL (0.01 mg/kg) on the 40th (harvest time), 30th, and 10th day in pear, jujube, and apple, respectively. But, in peach, residue concentrations were still higher than the MRL after 60 days and the ratio of R/S was 2.2. These results could be helpful for the reasonable use and risk assessment of chiral diniconazole.

Enantioselective degradation of the organophosphorus insecticide isocarbophos in Cupriavidus nantongensis X1T: Characteristics, enantioselective regulation, degradation pathways, and toxicity assessment

The chiral pesticide enantiomers often show selective efficacy and non-target toxicity. In this study, the enantioselective degradation characteristics of the chiral organophosphorus insecticide isocarbophos (ICP) by Cupriavidus nantongensis X1^T were investigated systematically. Strain X1^T preferentially degraded the ICP R isomer (R-ICP) over the S isomer (S-ICP). The degradation rate constant of R-ICP was 42-fold greater than S-ICP, while the former is less bioactive against pest insects but more toxic to humans than the latter. The concentration ratio of S-ICP to R-ICP determines whether S-ICP can be degraded by strain X1^T. S-ICP started to degrade only when the ratio (C_S-ICP/C_R-ICP) was greater than 62. Divalent metal cations could improve the degradation ability of strain X1^T. The detected metabolites that were identified suggested a novel hydrolysis pathway, while the hydrolytic metabolites were less toxic to fish and green algae than those from P-O bond breakage. The crude enzyme degraded both R-ICP and S-ICP in a similar rate, indicating that enantioselective degradation was due to the transportation of strain X1^T. The strain X1^T also enantioselectively degraded the chiral organophosphorus insecticides isofenphos-methyl and profenofos. The enantioselective degradation characteristics of strain X1^T make it suitable for remediation of chiral organophosphorus insecticide contaminated soil and water.

Stereoselective environmental fate of fosthiazate in soil and water-sediment microcosms

The stereoselective fates of chiral pesticides in the environment has been reported in many studies. However, there is little data focused on the fate of chiral fosthiazate in the soil and aquatic ecosystems at chiral view. This study investigated the stereoselective fate of fosthiazate in the soil and aquatic ecosystems using ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) and liquid chromatography tandem time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF/MS/MS). Significant stereoselective degradation among four fosthiazate stereoisomers were found in both greenhouse soil and water-sediment microcosms. In greenhouse soil, (1R,3S)-fosthiazate degraded faster than other three stereoisomers with the half-life of 2.7 d. The fosthiazate stereisomers in the seawater-sediment microcosm degraded more rapidly than in the river water-sediment microcosm. However, (1S,3R)-fosthiazate and (1S,3S)-fosthiazate possessed shorter degradation half-lives than their enantiomers in both microcosms, with the half-lives ranging from 3.4 d to 15.8 d. Ten degradation products were identified in the water-sediment microcosms, and, six of them were reported for the first time. Oxidation and hydrolysis were confirmed as the main degradation pathways of fosthiazate in the water-sediment microcosms. Our results revealed that the (1R,3S)-fosthiazate and (1R,3R)-fosthiazate may cause more serious ecotoxicity due to the longer half-lives than the other two stereoisomers in environment.