Oxidative damage mediated by herbicides on yeast cells.

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Biochemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• Agricultural herbicides are widely used pesticides with potential human and environmental health risks.
• Understanding herbicide toxicity mechanisms is crucial for risk assessment and mitigation strategies.
• Wine yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, serves as a valuable model for studying cellular responses to xenobiotics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the oxidative stress effects of three commercial herbicide formulations (Pointer, Silglif, Proper Energy) on an autochthonous wine yeast strain.
• To elucidate the impact of these herbicides on enzymatic activities and protein modifications related to oxidative damage.
• To utilize Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model to understand herbicide-induced toxicity mechanisms.

Main Methods:

• Exposure of an autochthonous wine yeast strain to three commercial herbicide formulations.
• Measurement of enzymatic activities, specifically catalase and superoxide dismutase.
• Analysis of protein carbonylation and thiol oxidation as indicators of oxidative post-translational modifications.

Main Results:

• Herbicides significantly affected the enzymatic activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase in yeast cells.
• Exposure to herbicides induced protein carbonylation, a marker of oxidative damage.
• Thiol oxidation, another post-translational modification indicative of oxidative stress, was also observed.
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae demonstrated sensitivity to herbicide-induced oxidative stress.

Conclusions:

• The studied agricultural herbicides induce oxidative stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
• Herbicides alter critical antioxidant enzyme activities and lead to protein oxidative damage.
• These findings contribute to understanding the molecular mechanisms of herbicide toxicity in biological systems.