Residues of methamidofos, malathion, and methiocarb in greenhouse crops

An ultrasensitive "mix-and-detect" kind of fluorescent biosensor for malaoxon detection using the AChE-ATCh-Ag-GO system

Malaoxon, a highly toxic metabolite of malathion, can lead to severe harm or death if ingested. This study introduces a rapid and innovative fluorescent biosensor that relies on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition for detecting malaoxon using Ag-GO nanohybrid. The synthesized nanomaterials (GO, Ag-GO) were evaluated with multiple characterization methods to confirm their elemental composition, morphology, and crystalline structure. The fabricated biosensor works by utilizing AChE to catalyze the substrate acetylthiocholine (ATCh), which generates positively charged thiocholine (TCh) and triggers citrate-coated AgNP aggregation on the GO sheet, leading to an increase in fluorescence emission at 423 nm. However, the presence of malaoxon inhibits the AChE action and reduces the production of TCh, resulting in a decrease in fluorescence emission intensity. This mechanism allows the biosensor to detect a wide range of malaoxon concentrations with excellent linearity and low LOD and LOQ values of 0.001 pM to 1000 pM, 0.9 fM, and 3 fM, respectively. The biosensor also demonstrated superior inhibitory efficacy towards malaoxon compared to other OP pesticides, indicating its resistance to external influences. In practical sample testing, the biosensor displayed recoveries of over 98% with extremely low RSD% values. Based on the results obtained from the study, it can be concluded that the developed biosensor has the potential to be used in various real-world applications for detecting malaoxon in food, and water samples, with high sensitivity, accuracy, and reliability.

Enantiomeric separation of malathion and malaoxon and the chiral residue analysis in food and environmental matrix

Malathion is a widely used chiral phosphorus insecticide, which has a more toxic chiral metabolite malaoxon. In this work, the enantiomers of malathion and malaoxon were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass/mass (HPLC-MS/MS) with chiral columns using acetonitrile/water or methanol/water as mobile phase, and the chromatographic conditions were optimized. Based on the chiral separation, the chiral residue analysis methods for the enantiomers in soil, fruit, and vegetables were set up. Two pairs of the enantiomers were better separated on CHIRALPAK IC chiral column, and baseline simultaneous separations of malathion and malaoxon enantiomers were achieved with acetonitrile/water (40/60, v/v) as mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min. The elution orders were -/+ for both malathion and malaoxon measured by an optical rotation detector. The chiral residue analysis in soil, fruit, and vegetables was validated by linearity, recovery, precision, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). The LODs and LOQs for the enantiomers of malathion were 1 μg/kg and 3-5 μg/kg and 0.08 μg/kg and 0.20-0.25 μg/kg for malaoxon enantiomers. Good linear calibration curves for each enantiomer in the matrices were obtained within the concentration range of 0.02-12 mg/L. The mean recoveries of the enantiomers of malathion and malaoxon ranged from 82.26% to 109.04%, with RSDs of 0.71-8.63%.The results confirmed that this method was capable of simultaneously determining the residue of malathion and malaoxon in food and environmental matrix on an enantiomeric level.

Characterization of a fungal strain capable of degrading chlorpyrifos and its use in detoxification of the insecticide on vegetables

A fungal strain capable of utilizing chlorpyrifos as sole carbon and energy sources was isolated from soil by enrichment cultivation approach. The half-lives of degradation (DT(50)) for chlorpyrifos at concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 mg l(-1) by the fungal strain DSP in mineral salt medium were measured to be 2.03, 2.93, and 3.49 days, respectively. Two cell-free extracts [E (1:10) and E (1:20)] from the fungal strain DSP in bran-glucose medium were prepared and used to enhance chlorpyrifos degradation on vegetables. Compared with the controls, the DT(50) of chlorpyrifos were reduced by 70.3%, 65.6%, 80.6%, 80.6%, and 86.1%, and by 53.8%, 43.2%, 66.0%, 54.3%, and 67.7% on E (1:20) and E (1:10) treated pakchoi, water spinach, Malabar spinach, haricot beans, and pepper, respectively. The 7-day residual values (R (7)) of chlorpyrifos on E (1:10) treated vegetables were all lower than the corresponding maximum residue levels of European Union (EU MRLs), except that the R (7) value on haricot beans was slightly higher than the corresponding EU MRLs. The results indicate that cell-free extracts could rapidly degrade chlorpyrifos residues on vegetables.

Analysis of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds in Zucchini Flowers: Identification of Scent Sources

An analytical method has been applied to determine volatile organic compounds in zucchini flowers. In a first step, the analytical method was applied to characterize the main scents emitted by whole male and female living flowers of three main commercial cultivars of zucchini (Tosca, Chapin, and Consul). In a second step, the compounds were quantified in different parts of the living flowers to identify the contribution of nectar, petals, anther, and stigma to the aroma profile of the flower. The analytical method is based on headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled on-line with GC and tandem MS detection (HS-SPME-GC-MS/MS). A reference compound is added to samples as part of the field quality control procedure to check for likely analyte losses or sample decomposition. The reference compound also acts as an internal standard for quantification purposes. Results have been statistically studied applying principal component analysis (PCA), which shows that three components explain more than 91% of the variance. PCA emphasizes the great importance of nectar as being the main source of 1,4-dimethoxybenzene and 1,2,4-trimethoxybenzene, which influence the aroma profile of flowers. The remaining components can be accounted for by emissions from petals and sexual organs (adroecium and gynoecium anthers or stigmas).

Effect of in vitro estrogenic pesticides on human oestrogen receptor α and β mRNA levels

Nine widely distributed pesticides were recently demonstrated to possess potential estrogenic properties in oestrogen receptor (ER) transactivation and/or E-screen assays. We tested the effect of these nine pesticides on the human ERalpha and ERbeta mRNA steady state levels in the mamma cancer fibroblast MCF-7BUS cells using on-line RT-PCR. Like 17beta-oestradiol (E2), fenarimol significantly decreased the ERalpha and increased the ERbeta mRNA level. Endosulfan and pirimicarb alone decreased the ERalpha mRNA level weakly. After co-exposure with E2, all the tested pesticides counteracted the E2-induced decrease of the ERalpha mRNA level, but only significantly for prochloraz, dieldrin, and tolchlofos-methyl. Alone no pesticides affected the ERbeta mRNA level significantly, but chlorpyrifos increased the mRNA level weakly. Co-exposure with E2 elicited a significant increased ERbeta mRNA level by prochloraz, fenarimol, endosulfan, dieldrin, and tolchlofos-methyl, whereas no significant effect of the carbamate pesticides on the ERbeta mRNA level was observed. This study demonstrated that organochlor and organophosphorous pesticides possess the ability to interfere with the ERalpha and ERbeta mRNA steady state levels.