Abstract
Background. Poisoning from pesticides can be extremely hazardous for non-invasive species, such as bees, and humans causing nearly 300,000 deaths worldwide every year. Several pesticides are recognized as endocrine disruptors compounds that alter the production of the normal hormones mainly by acting through their interaction with nuclear receptors (NRs). Among the insecticides, one of the most used is pyriproxyfen. As analogous to the juvenile hormone, the pyriproxyfen acts in the bee’s larval growth and creates malformations at the adult organism level. Methods. This work aims to investigate the possible negative effects of pyriproxyfen and its metabolite, the 4′-OH-pyriproxyfen, on human and bee health. We particularly investigated the mechanism of binding of pyriproxyfen and its metabolite with ultraspiracle protein/ecdysone receptor (USP-EcR) dimer of A. mellifera and the relative heterodimer farnesoid X receptor/retinoid X receptor alpha (FXR-RXRα) of H. sapiens using molecular dynamic simulations. Results. The results revealed that pyriproxyfen and its metabolite, the 4′-OH- pyriproxyfen, stabilize each dimer and resulted in stronger binders than the natural ligands. Conclusion. We demonstrated the endocrine interference of two pesticides and explained their possible mechanism of action. Furthermore, in vitro studies should be carried out to evaluate the biological effects of pyriproxyfen and its metabolite.
Highlights
IntroductionThe Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that of the 100 crop species that provide 90% of food worldwide, 71 are pollinated by bees (EFSA, The European Food Safety Authority)
An important nuclear receptor in bees is the ecdysone receptor that regulates the development and behavior of bees through its activation induced by hormones such as 20-hydroxyecdysone and juvenile hormone
The purpose of this paper was to use in silico techniques for the prediction of endocrine interference of pyriproxyfen and its metabolite 40 -OH-pyriproxyfen on the A. mellifera USPEcR dimer and the H. sapiens ortholog retinoid X receptor α (RXRα)-FXR
Summary
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that of the 100 crop species that provide 90% of food worldwide, 71 are pollinated by bees (EFSA, The European Food Safety Authority). Poisoning from pesticides can be extremely hazardous for non-invasive species, such as bees, and humans causing nearly 300,000 deaths worldwide every year. Several pesticides are recognized as endocrine disruptors compounds that alter the production of the normal hormones mainly by acting through their interaction with nuclear receptors (NRs). As analogous to the juvenile hormone, the pyriproxyfen acts in the bee’s larval growth and creates malformations at the adult organism level. This work aims to investigate the possible negative effects of pyriproxyfen and its metabolite, the 40 OH-pyriproxyfen, on human and bee health. We investigated the mechanism of binding of pyriproxyfen and its metabolite with ultraspiracle protein/ecdysone receptor (USP-EcR) dimer of
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