Water-Based Environmentally Friendly Pesticide Formulations Based on Cyclodextrin/Pesticide Loading System

Difenoconazole(DIF)is a representative variety of broad-spectrum triazole fungicides and liposoluble pesticides.However,the water solubility of DIF is so poor that its application is limited in plant protection.In addition,the conventional formulations of DIF always contain abundant organic solvents,which may cause pollution of the environment.In this study,two DIF/cyclodextrins(CDs)inclusion complexes(ICs)were successfully prepared,which were DIF/β-CD IC and DIF/hydroxypropyl-β-CD IC(DIF/HP-β-CD IC).The effect of cyclodextrins on the water solubility and the antifungal effect of liposoluble DIF pesticide were investigated.According to the phase solubility test,the molar ratio and apparent stability constant of ICs were obtained.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy,thermal gravity analysis,X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used systematically to characterize the formation and characteristics of ICs.The results noted that DIF successfully entered the cavities of two CDs.In addition,the antifungal effect test proved the better performance of DIF/HP-β-CD IC,which exceeded that of DIF emulsifiable concentrate.Therefore,our study provides informative direction for the intelligent use of liposoluble pesticides with cyclodextrins to develop water-based environmentally friendly formulations.

Pre-mating nitenpyram exposure in male mice leads to depression-like behavior in offspring by affecting tryptophan metabolism in gut microbiota

Several studies have confirmed that the health status of the paternal affects the health of the offspring,however,it remains unknown whether paternal exposure to pesticides affect the offspring health.Here,we used untargeted metabolomics and 16S rRNA sequencing technology,combined with tail suspension test and RT-qPCR to explore the effects of paternal exposure to nitenpyram on the neurotoxicity of offspring.Our results found that the paternal exposure to nitenpyram led to the offspring’s depressive-like behaviors,accompanied by the reduction of tryptophan content and the disorder of microbial abundance in the gut of the offspring.Further,we determined the expression of tryptophan metabolism-related genes tryptophanase(tnaA)and tryptophan hydroxylase 1(TpH1)in gut bacteria and colonic tissues.We found that tryptophan is metabolized to indoles rather than being absorbed into colonocytes,which coursed the reduce of tryptophan availability after nitenpyram exposure.In conclusion,our study deepens our understanding of the intergenerational toxic effects of pesticides.

HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTATION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN PESTICIDE DISCOVERY: STATUS AND OUTLOOK

1 INTRODUCTION Pesticides are extremely important in global crop,food and ecological safety.Use of pesticides can prevent around 20%to 30%of global crop loss every year.The continuous growth of population and the limited acreage of agricultural land require increasing crop yields to feed people.Pesticides are important for protecting crops and preventing yield losses.With the increasing concerns over environmental protection,ecofriendly pesticides are needed to replace some higher risk ones.It is slow and difficult to successfully discover new pesticides with the standard random screening.New technologies and methods,such as high-performance computation and artificial intelligence(AI),can dramatically facilitate in the pesticide discovery process.

A novel domain-duplicated SlitFAR3 gene involved in sex pheromone biosynthesis in Spodoptera litura

Fatty acyl reductases(FARs)are key enzymes that participate in sex pheromone biosynthesis by reducing fatty acids to fatty alcohols.Lepidoptera typically harbor numerous FAR gene family members.Although FAR genes are involved in the biosynthesis of sex pheromones in moths,the key FAR gene of Spodoptera litura remains unclear.In this work,we predicted 30 FAR genes from the S.litura genome and identified a domain duplication within gene SlitFAR3,which exhibited high and preferential expression in the sexually mature female pheromone glands(PGs)and a rhythmic expression pattern during the scotophase of sex pheromone production.The molecular docking of SlitFAR3,as predicted using a 3D model,revealed a co-factor NADPH binding cavity and 2 substrate binding cavities.Functional expression in yeast cells combined with comprehensive gas chromatography indicated that the SlitFAR3 gene could produce fatty alcohol products.This study is the first to focus on the special phenomenon of FAR domain duplication,which will advance our understanding of biosynthesis-related genes from the perspective of evolutionary biology.

Glycoside-specific metabolomics combined with precursor isotopic labeling for characterizing plant glycosyltransferases

Glycosylation by uridine diphosphate-dependent glycosyltransferases(UGTs)in plants contributes to the complexity and diversity of secondary metabolites.UGTs are generally promiscuous in their use of acceptors,making it challenging to reveal the function of UGTs in vivo.Here,we described an approach that combined glycoside-specific metabolomics and precursor isotopic labeling analysis to characterize UGTs in Arabidopsis.We revisited the UGT72E cluster,which has been reported to catalyze the glycosylation of monolignols.Glycoside-specific metabolomics analysis reduced the number of differentially accumulated metabolites in the ugt72e1e2e3 mutant by at least 90%compared with that from traditional untargeted metabolomics analysis.In addition to the two previously reported monolignol glycosides,a total of 62 glycosides showed reduced accumulation in the ugt72e1e2e3 mutant,22 of which were phenylalanine-derived glycosides,including 5-OH coniferyl alcohol-derived and lignan-derived glycosides,as confirmed by isotopic tracing of[^(13)C_(6)]-phenylalanine precursor.Our method revealed that UGT72Es could use coumarins as substrates,and genetic evidence showed that UGT72Es endowed plants with enhanced tolerance to low iron availability under alkaline conditions.Using the newly developed method,the function of UGT78D2 was also evaluated.These case studies suggest that this method can substantially contribute to the characterization of UGTs and efficiently investigate glycosylation processes,the complexity of which have been highly underestimated.