Mepanipyrim induces visual developmental toxicity and vision-guided behavioral alteration in zebrafish larvae

Mepanipyrim,an anilinopyrimidine fungicide,has been extensively used to prevent fungal diseases in fruit culture.Currently,research on mepanipyrim-induced toxicity in organisms is still very scarce,especially visual developmental toxicity.Here,zebrafish larvae were employed to investigate mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity.Intense light andmonochromatic light stimuli-evoked escape experiments were used to investigate vision-guided behaviors.Meanwhile,transcriptomic sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR assays were applied to assess the potential mechanisms of mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity and vision-guided behavioral alteration.Our results showed that mepanipyrim exposure could induce retinal impairment and vision-guided behavioral alteration in larval zebrafish.In addition,the grk1b gene of the phototransduction signaling pathway was found to be a potential aryl hydrocarbon receptor(AhR)-regulated gene.Mepanipyrim-induced visual developmental toxicity was potentially related to the AhR signaling pathway.Furthermore,mepanipyrim-induced behavioral alteration was guided by the visual function,and the effects of mepanipyrim on long and middle wavelength light-sensitive opsins may be the main cause of vision-guided behavioral alteration.Our results provide insights into understanding the relationship between visual development and vision-guided behaviors induced by mepanipyrim exposure.