Abstract
Pesticide residues in agricultural produce pose a threat to human health worldwide. Although the detoxification mechanisms for xenobiotics have been extensively studied in mammalian cells, information about the regulation network in plants remains elusive. Here we show that brassinosteroids (BRs), a class of natural plant hormones, decreased residues of common organophosphorus, organochlorine and carbamate pesticides by 30–70% on tomato, rice, tea, broccoli, cucumber, strawberry, and other plants when treated externally. Genome-wide microarray analysis showed that fungicide chlorothalonil (CHT) and BR co-upregulated 301 genes, including a set of detoxifying genes encoding cytochrome P450, oxidoreductase, hydrolase and transferase in tomato plants. The level of BRs was closely related to the respiratory burst oxidase 1 (RBOH1)-encoded NADPH oxides-dependent H2O2 production, glutathione biosynthesis and the redox homeostasis, and the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST). Gene silencing treatments showed that BRs decreased pesticide residues in plants likely by promoting their metabolism through a signaling pathway involving BRs-induced H2O2 production and cellular redox change. Our study provided a novel approach for minimizing pesticide residues in crops by exploiting plants' own detoxification mechanisms.
Highlights
Pesticide residues in agricultural produce pose a threat to human health worldwide
Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a class of phytohormones involved in the regulation of plant growth, development and stress response[13], Previously, we found that BRs-induced stress tolerance is associated with changes in cellular redox homeostasis and expression of a wide range of stress-related genes including those encoding P450 and glutathione S-transferase (GST) involved in metabolism of xenobiotic compounds[14,15]
Currently, efforts to reduce health risk from pesticide residues in agricultural produce have been largely through regulations or product cancellations, and there are few studies that focused on reducing pesticide residue in intact plants, mostly due to lack of understanding of the mechanisms of pesticide metabolism and its regulation pathway in plants
Summary
Pesticide residues in agricultural produce pose a threat to human health worldwide. the detoxification mechanisms for xenobiotics have been extensively studied in mammalian cells, information about the regulation network in plants remains elusive. The level of BRs was closely related to the respiratory burst oxidase 1 (RBOH1)-encoded NADPH oxides-dependent H2O2 production, glutathione biosynthesis and the redox homeostasis, and the activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST). The expression of specific genes involved in the processes related to detoxification is responsive to xenobiotic compounds such as pesticides[12], suggesting that the intrinsic detoxification mechanisms of higher plants may be exploited to decrease pesticide residues in food produce. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a class of phytohormones involved in the regulation of plant growth, development and stress response[13], Previously, we found that BRs-induced stress tolerance is associated with changes in cellular redox homeostasis and expression of a wide range of stress-related genes including those encoding P450 and GST involved in metabolism of xenobiotic compounds[14,15]. Our study revealed yet another potentially important application of these plant hormones for improving the food safety of agricultural produce
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