Endophytic actinobacteria from wild medicinal plants are a natural source of insecticide to control the African cotton leafworm (Spodoptera littoralis)

Insecticide resistance in agricultural pests has prompted the need to discover novel compounds with new modes of action. We investigated the potency of secondary metabolites from seventy endophytic actinobacteria against laboratory and field strains of Spodoptera littoralis (fourth instar), comparable to the bioinsecticide spinetoram (Radiant SC 12%). Endophytes from Artemisia herba-alba and A. judaica were highly effective. Chemical profiling of the most potent metabolite of the strain Streptomyces sp. ES2 was investigated using LC-QTOF-MS-MS technique, and the activity was validated through molecular docking studies. Metabolic extracts from actinobacteria belonging to Streptomyces, Nocardioides, and Pseudonocardia showed immediate and latent death to the Spodoptera littoralis fourth instar larvae. The metabolite from strain ES2 has shown the most promising and significant histopathological and inhibitory effects on the fourth instar larvae. ES2 metabolite caused lesions in the body wall cuticle, indicating a different mode of action than that of Radiant. Chemical profiling of ES2 showed the presence of cyromazine (molt inhibitor), 4-nitrophenol, and diazinon as key constituents. In conclusion, these findings suggest that secondary metabolites from endophytic actinobacteria inhabiting wild medicinal plants can be a sustainable source for promising natural biocontrol agents. This is the first illustration of the insecticidal activity of Artemisia spp. microbiome, and natural cyromazine synthesis by actinobacteria.

Insect hormones affect the toxicity of the insecticidal growth regulator cyromazine in Liriomyza trifolii (Diptera: Agromyzidae)

The leafminer Liriomyza trifolii is an important insect pest of ornamental and vegetable crops worldwide. Cyromazine is an effective, commonly-used insecticide that functions as a growth regulator, but its effect on L. trifolii has not been previously reported. In this study, transcriptome analysis was undertaken in L. trifolii exposed to cyromazine. Clusters of orthologous groups analysis indicated that a large number of differentially expressed genes responding to cyromazine were categorized as "lipid transport and metabolism", "post-translational modification, protein turnover, chaperones", and "cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis". Gene ontology analysis indicated that pathways associated with insect hormones, growth and development, and cuticle synthesis were significantly enriched. In general, the transcriptome results showed that the genes related to insect hormones were significantly expressed after treatment with cyromazine. Furthermore, the combined exposure of L. trifolii to cyromazine and the hormone analogues 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) or juvenile hormone (JH) indicated that hormone analogues can change the expression pattern of hormone-related genes (20EP and JHEH) and pupal length. The combined application of cyromazine with 20E improved the survival rate of L. trifolii, whereas the combination of JH and cyromazine reduced survival. The results of this study help elucidate the mechanistic basis for cyromazine toxicity and provide a foundation for understanding cyromazine resistance.

ZX01 from a Chinese ginger cultivated soil

Cyromazine, a symmetrical triazine insecticide, is used to control dipteran larvae in chicken manure by feeding to the poultry, flies on animals, and leafminers in vegetables. Its extensive use has resulted in the widespread contamination in the environment. In the current study, a cyromazine degrading bacterium (designated strain ZX01) was isolated and characterized from a Chinese ginger cultivated soil by selective enrichment culture method. On the basis of morphological, biochemical characteristics, and 16S rRNA gene sequence, this bacterium showed strong similarity to the Pseudomonadales members and was closely related to the Acinetobacter baumannii group. Spectrophotometric and HPLC analyses revealed that strain ZX01 degraded cyromazine and utilized it as the sole carbon source for its growth. This process hydrolyzes cyromazine to melamine. Strain ZX01 degraded most of the cyromazine in 60 h. Besides, its substrate specificity against four symmetrical triazine herbicides, one triazinone herbicide, as well as 10 insecticides and its antibiotic sensitivity towards eight commercial antibiotics were also tested. At the concentration of 100 µg/mL for 60 h, it could effectively degrade a variety of different pesticides, including atrazine, prometon, simazine, prometryn, enitrothion, diazinon, cypermethrin, and acetamiprid, and the degradation was in the range of 71-87%. In particular, melamine, the main degradation product of cyromazine, was degraded by 47.3%. This microorganism was sensitive to chloramphenicol and tetracycline and intermediate to amoxicillin and trimethoprim. These results highlight that strain ZX01 can be used as a potential biological agent for the remediation of soil, water, or crop contaminated with cyromazine and other symmetrical triazine insecticides.

The creation of selective imprinted cavities on quartz crystal microbalance electrode for the detection of melamine in milk sample

Molecularly imprinted polymer based nanofilms specific to melamine were synthesized on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode surface. Contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterizations process. Some of the findings of the study are as follows: pH 6.0 was found as optimal working pH for melamine detection. Prepared MIP QCM electrode showed a linearity of 99.53% in the concentration range of 50-1000 ng/mL. Langmuir-Freundlich hybrid model was the best fitted isotherm for whole concentration range. The performance of MIP QCM electrode was also confirmed by determining of melamine in melamine spiked milk samples. As a conclusion, the results figured out that not only QCM nanosensor for specific melamine detection but also polymerization strategy were classified as an intriguing alternative for developing new melamine sensing platforms. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were calculated as 2.3 ng/mL and 7.8 ng/mL, respectively.

Elucidating the microbiological characteristics of cyromazine affecting the nitrogen cycle during aerobic composting of pig manure

Cyromazine as insect growth inhibitor have been frequently detected in the environment, which show a potential threat to environment and soil health. Nitrogen is an essential component of all living organisms and the main nutrient limiting life on our planet. In this study, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and sequencing of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria were conducted to investigate the dynamic effects of cyromazine on nitrogen conversion during laboratory-based composting. Results showed that the presence of cyromazine significantly reduced the abundance of amoA gene during the thermophilic phase of composting (p < 0.01), resulting in lower oxidation of NH₄⁺-N. The archaea amoA gene was more resistant to cyromazine. The nirK gene was more abundant than the nirS gene during composting and was significantly reduced only under high concentrations of cyromazine (p < 0.01). The high dose of cyromazine (15 mg/kg) severely damaged the nitrogen fixation capacity of compost products. Cyromazine exhibited an inhibition effect on richness (ACE, Chao) of nitrifying and denitrifying microorganisms during the thermophilic period, while increased the diversity (shannon) at all stages of composting. Pseudomonas_formosensis was the core denitrifiers that harbored nosZ gene, Nitrosomonas_eutropha and Nitrosospira_sp_Nl5 were the dominant nitrifier that harbored amoA gene, and these species have a negative response to cyromazine. Network analysis indicated that the dominant bacteria harboring amoA and nosZ genes were hubs of nitrogen oxidation and reduction processes. Structural equation modeling revealed that NO₂^--N conversion played a crucial role in driving denitrification, and increase of NH₄⁺-N content was attributed to the inhibition of nitrification and denitrification during composting caused by cyromazine.

Biochemical mechanism, inheritance and cross-resistance to cyromazine in a non-target Chrysoperla carnea: A potential predator of whiteflies and aphids

Developing an eco-friendly Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach is only possible by minimizing the use of insecticides and their effects on non-targets such as natural enemies. Chrysoperla carnea is a potential predator of several economic pests including whiteflies and aphids. C. carnea selected with cyromazine for 15 generations indicated a great increase in resistance to this Insect Growth Regulator (IGR). There was no cross-resistance to chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and nitenpyram in Cyro-SEL population. Inheritance to cyromazine was autosomal, incompletely dominant, and polygenic. A high realized heritability (h₂) value (0.37) confirmed more genetic variability. Synergists piperonyl butoxide (PBO) and S,S,S-tributylphosphorotrithioate (DEF) showed a significant involvement of P-450 monooxygenase and esterase in cyromazine resistance development. These findings are helpful to design a natural enemy-friendly IPM strategy resulting in increased survival and performance of C. carnea controlling economic pests.

Dicyclanil resistance in the Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, substantially reduces flystrike protection by dicyclanil and cyromazine based products

Late in 2017, field samples of the Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, were submitted by sheep producers from three states of Australia (South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales). Some were collected by submitters concerned about shortened periods of flystrike protection from dicyclanil based products. Neonate larval offspring from the NSW field samples survived and successfully completed their life cycles following exposure to dicyclanil and cyromazine at susceptible discriminating concentrations in vitro. The in vivo study reported here used dicyclanil resistant neonate larvae to assess the flystrike protection provided by a cyromazine jetting fluid and a number of dicyclanil based spray-on products, when applied to sheep six weeks after shearing.

The two dicyclanil resistant blowfly strains used in this study showed in vitro resistance ratios, at the LC50, of approximately 13- and 25-fold relative to a dicyclanil and cyromazine susceptible strain. Compared to the levels of resistance that L. cuprina has developed to other insecticides these are relatively low, however, three dicyclanil based spray–on products (active ingredient 12.5 g/L, 50 g/L and 65 g/L) had protection periods reduced by 73%, 78% and 69% respectively when compared to the maximum protection periods claimed by the manufacturer. A 50% and a 33% reduction in protection period was also observed to a cyromazine and an ivermectin based jetting fluid respectively. In contrast, protection periods were attained or exceeded regardless of the treatment used against field derived dicyclanil susceptible neonate larvae.

For the first time we confirm that dicyclanil resistance enables the completion of the L. cuprina life cycle following flystrike initiation on dicyclanil or cyromazine treated sheep when insecticide levels are considered high and protective. This study also provides in vivo information on the effect of dicyclanil resistance on the protection provided by a product with an active ingredient belonging to an unrelated insecticide group. Dicyclanil resistance is of major concern to the Australian sheep industry.

•

Three dicyclanil products failed to protect against dicyclanil resistant larvae.

•

The standard dose dicyclanil product had an 83% reduction in protection period.

•

This resistance also reduced efficacy of cyromazine and ivermectin jetting fluids.

•

These products protected sheep against dicyclanil susceptible implanted larvae.

•

This study confirms the observations of some sheep producers regarding dicyclanil.

Separation and detection of trace atrazine from seawater using dummy-template molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography

A novel sample pretreatment strategy for separation and detection of atrazine from seawater was established with molecular imprinting solid-phase extraction (MISPE). Cyromazine was used as dummy-template based on computational analysis to synthesize dummy-template molecularly imprinted polymers (DMIPs) as sorbent of MISPE for atrazine analysis. The DMIPs were irregular loose porous layered structure characterized by scanning electron microscopy and showed higher binding capacity than non-imprinted polymers through adsorption experiments. An offline MISPE procedure using DMIPs as sorbent coupled with high-performance liquid chromatograph was developed for separation and purification of atrazine from seawater samples. The recoveries of atrazine in the spiked seawater samples ranged from 86.7% to 98.6%, and the relative standard deviation was less than 4.07% (n = 3) under optimal conditions indicating that the proposed method was suitable for the detection of trace residual atrazine in seawater. In addition, no atrazine was detected in three seawater samples from Jiaozhou bay, China.

Key role of cyromazine in the distribution of antibiotic resistance genes and bacterial community variation in aerobic composting

The risks that have not been noted so far have come from the use of non-antibiotics. In this study, non-antibiotic drug (cyromazine) was used in composting to investigate its possible effects on the distribution of ARGs and changes of bacterial community. Results showed that cyromazine increased the abundances of highly-risky ARGs (bla_CTX-M and bla_VIM), and heavy metal resistance genes (MRGs). Low and high concentrations of cyromazine increased the abundance of Tn916/1545 by 18.27% and 64.26%, respectively, compared with the control treatment. Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and MRGs were not the major cause of the dynamic changes in ARGs, but instead the bacterial community succession changed according to the moisture content, pH, and bio-Cu. Network analysis showed that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the major hosts for ARGs, and there was a significant correlation between tcrB, sul1 and Tn916/1545.

Melamine, beyond the kidney: A ubiquitous endocrine disruptor and neurotoxicant?

Melamine is commonly used in a variety of consumer products such as furniture, dining ware, and food utensils. The chemical infamously gained worldwide attention by its illegal addition to a variety of foodstuffs in order to falsify protein content, which led to serious, sometimes fatal, health impacts in children and pets. This resulted in a large amount of published primary studies and reviews of the impacts of melamine exposure on kidney function. However, a growing body of literature suggests that melamine may have impacts beyond renal dysfunction. We conducted a scoping review of this literature which yielded more than 40 studies with human, animal, and in vitro findings. Neurological impacts, reproductive function, and anthropometric outcomes were identified as possible candidates for systematic review based on evidence stream and replication of endpoints. The results of this analysis provide a basis for prioritizing future research on health impacts associated with melamine exposure.

Combined exposure to low doses of pesticides causes decreased birth weights in rats

Decreased birth weight is a common effect of many pesticides in reproductive toxicity studies, but there are no empirical data on how pesticides act in combination on this endpoint. We hypothesized that a mixture of six pesticides (cyromazine, MCPB, pirimicarb, quinoclamine, thiram, and ziram) would decrease birth weight, and that these mixture effects could be predicted by the Dose Addition model. Data for the predictions were obtained from the Draft Assessment Reports of the individual pesticides. A mixture of equi-effective doses of these pesticides was tested in two studies in Wistar rats, showing mixture effects in good agreement with the additivity predictions. Significantly lower birth weights were observed when compounds were present at individual doses below their no-observed adverse effect levels (NOAELs). These results emphasize the need for cumulative risk assessment of pesticides to avoid potentially serious impact of mixed exposure on prenatal development and pregnancy in humans.