作者: Rosamilia, Roberto ; Battaglia, Donatella ; Trotta, Vincenzo ; Semitsoglou-Tsiapou, Sofia ; Buttiglieri, Gianluigi ; Fanti, Paolo ; Brienza, Monica ; Caccavo, Vittoria

Fipronil is an insecticide with low residual activity and high efficacy at low concentrations. Due to its widespread use and long half-life, fipronil can persist during wastewater treatment and is found even in surface waters. When released into the environment, it can accumulate over time and can lead to concentrations in soil and plant tissues that are harmful to both target and non-target organisms. As the reuse of treated wastewater and sewage sludge presents challenges and opportunities for farmers, this study investigates the effects of irrigation with environmentally relevant doses of fipronil on zucchini plants and their main insect pest, Aphis gossypii. Traces of fipronil were found in the zucchini leaves, but not in the flowers, after 35-days of cumulative exposure. A decrease in nymph-to-adult survival and a dose-dependent reduction in the fecundity of A. gossypii feeding on contaminated host plants was observed. Also, aphids feeding on contaminated host plants exhibited the same mortality rate as the control group when exposed to an acute dose of fipronil. However, when natural pyrethrins were used, there was a significant increase in resistance to this insecticide. Our results demonstrate the potential for fipronil to accumulate in plant tissues and highlight the risk of changes in insecticide susceptibility in insect pests. This suggests a need for a holistic approach to the complex dynamics of wastewater reuse in agriculture.

2025-12-01·VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY

Dry silica dust-based products for management of ixodids

Review

作者: Showler, Allan T

Ixodids transmit a variety of disease-causing agents that afflict humans, livestock, companion animals, and wildlife, as well as reducing meat and milk yields, reproduction, hide quality, and occasionally inducing death from exsanguination. While the primary control tactic has been application of conventional synthetic acaricides, resistance to many of those products has occurred among various ixodid species. This development has instigated searches for alternative control tactics, such as growth regulators, bioactive animal and botanical substances, vaccines, biological control, and silica-based dusts. Inert silica dust-based substances, including kaolin, silica gel, diatomaceous earths, and perlite are lethal to mobile ixodid life stages. The dusts are largely noninjurious to vertebrates and they have potentially indefinite shelf lives and extended residual potential after application to vegetation and animals that host ixodids, e.g., cattle. Extended residual efficacy may confer prophylactic protection of livestock. Silica-based dusts, particularly diatomaceous earths, are acceptable for use in organically certified production systems and environmentally protected areas. Ixodid resistance is unlikely to occur, and ixodid vulnerability can be maintained by using silica-based dusts formulated with botanical toxins, such as pyrethrins and thyme oil. While silica-based dusts kill immature ixodids before they commence blood-feeding on cattle, the dusts combined with botanical toxins rapidly kill actively feeding ixodids as well. It is possible that commercially available silica-based dust products, and those formulated with botanical toxins, might be amenable to organic production systems and protected habitats.

2025-09-01·Biochemistry and Biophysics Reports

An integrated environmental toxicity risk assessment framework combining deep learning and molecular simulation: A case study on pyrethrins and breast cancer

Article

作者: Zhuang, Yixin ; Huang, Yuanpeng ; Li, Weijie ; Jiang, Zikang ; Sung, Wen-Pei ; Sung, Jinghui

This study develops and validates a multi-scale integrative computational toxicology framework to systematically investigate the potential association between the natural pesticides pyrethrin I and II and breast cancer risk. The proposed approach integrates deep learning-based drug-target interaction prediction (via DeepPurpose), molecular docking and dynamics (MD) simulations, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network modeling, forming a traceable risk inference chain from molecular-level interactions to clinically relevant outcomes. Experimental results revealed that pyrethrin I exhibits stable and high-affinity binding to key breast cancer-related proteins, including RPS6KB1, TNKS2, and MAOB, with a minimum binding free energy (ΔG) reaching -27.37 kcal/mol. These interactions potentially modulate tumor progression through key oncogenic pathways such as PI3K/AKT, Wnt/β-catenin, and metabolic reprogramming. RPS6KB1 is implicated in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer proliferation, while TNKS2 is closely associated with stemness maintenance and the aggressiveness of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). MAOB demonstrates the highest structural stability among complexes, making it a promising candidate for toxicological modeling. The study further introduces a cross-scale risk indicator modeling strategy, constructing a mechanistically interpretable chain from compound structure to protein modules, carcinogenic pathways, and clinical risks. This integrative methodology supports environmental exposure monitoring and toxicological policy development. The open-source, containerized analytical toolchain developed herein is highly extensible and adaptable for future toxicological evaluations of other natural compounds and emerging environmental pollutants.

项与 Pyrethrins 相关的新闻（医药）

2022-05-27

·Science Daily

Learning from nature: Biosynthesis of cyanobacterin opens up new class of natural compounds for applications in medicine and agriculture

Researchers have succeeded in understanding the biosynthetic mechanisms for the production of the natural product cyanobacterin, which is produced in small quantities by the cyanobacteria Scytonema hofmanni. In the process, they also discovered a new class of enzymes for building carbon-carbon bonds. The (bio)chemists are thus significantly expanding the biocatalytic repertoire currently known from Nature and are opening up new, sustainable biotechnological applications in medicine and agriculture. Researchers in the groups of Prof. Tobias Gulder from TU Dresden and Prof. Tanja Gulder from Leipzig University have succeeded in understanding the biosynthetic mechanisms for the production of the natural product cyanobacterin, which in Nature is produced in small quantities by the cyanobacteria Scytonema hofmanni. In the process, they also discovered a new class of enzymes for building carbon-carbon bonds. The (bio)chemists are thus significantly expanding the biocatalytic repertoire currently known from Nature and are opening up new, sustainable biotechnological applications in medicine and agriculture. The results of the collaboration have now been published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology. The fact that Nature is an excellent chemist is demonstrated by the abundance of molecules, so-called natural products, which it produces biosynthetically. These natural products are also of central importance to us humans. They are used in many ways in our everyday lives, especially as active agents in medicine and agriculture. Prominent examples are antibiotics such as penicilins isolated from molds, the anti-cancer drug Taxol from the Pacific yew tree, and pyrethrins found in chrysanthemums, which are used to combat pest infestations. The knowledge and understanding of the biosynthetic assembly of such compounds by Nature is essential for the development and production of drugs based on such compounds. In this context, researchers from the groups of Prof. Tobias Gulder (TU Dresden) and Prof. Tanja Gulder (Leipzig University) jointly investigated the biosynthesis of cyanobacterin, which is highly toxic to photosynthetic organisms and is produced in small quantities in Nature by the cyanobacterium Scytonema hofmanni. In their work, the (bio)chemists were not only able to elucidate the biosynthesis of the natural product for the first time, but also discovered a novel enzymatic transformation for the formation of carbon-carbon bonds. This work was made possible by combining modern tools from bioinformatics, synthetic biology, enzymology and (bio)chemical analytics. The focus was on how the central part of the cyanobacterin carbon skeleton is produced. The putative genes for this were first cloned by the method of "Direct Pathway Cloning" (DiPaC) and then activated in the model organism E. coli as a cell factory. DiPaC is a new synthetic biology method previously developed in the laboratory of Tobias Gulder, Professor of Technical Biochemistry at TU Dresden. "DiPaC allows us to transfer entire natural products biosynthetic pathways into recombinant host systems very quickly and efficiently," Tobias Gulder explains. In the next step, the research team analyzed the essential individual steps of cyanobacterin biosynthesis by additionally producing all key enzymes in the host organism E.coli, isolating them and then investigating the function of each enzyme. In the process, they came across a previously unknown class of enzymes called furanolide synthases. These are capable of catalyzing the formation of carbon-carbon bonds following an unusual mechanism. In further studies of these furanolide synthases, these enzymes proved to be efficient in vitro biocatalysts, making them highly attractive for biotechnological applications. "With the furanolide synthases, we have obtained an enzymatic tool that will allow us to develop more environmentally friendly methods for the production of bioactive compounds in the future and thus make significant contributions to a more sustainable chemistry," explains Prof. Tanja Gulder from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Leipzig University. Next, the two research teams want to specifically search for these novel biocatalysts in other organisms as well, and thus find new bioactive members of this natural products class, as well as develop methods for the biotechnological production and structural diversification of cyanobacterin. "Our work paves the way for the comprehensive development of an exciting class of natural products for applications in medicine and agriculture," the two scientists agree.

100 项与 Pyrethrins 相关的药物交易

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