Modeling the Environmental Fate of the Natural Toxin Ptaquiloside: Production, Release and Leaching to Groundwater

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Garcia Jorgensen ◽  
Hans Bruun Hansen ◽  
Per Abrahamsen ◽  
Efstathios Diamantopoulos
2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Christian Bruun Hansen ◽  
Klara Hilscherova ◽  
Thomas D. Bucheli

AbstractBiosynthetic toxic compounds from plants and cyanobacteria constitute a chemically diverse family of at least 20,000 compounds. Recent work with natural toxin databases and toxin characterization shows that the majority of natural toxins are polar and mobile, with toxicity ranging from low to very high, while persistence is highly variable. Natural toxins may be produced in high quantities—some exceeding 10 g/m2/year—resulting in high environmental loads. Recent phytotoxin monitoring indicates that one or more natural toxin is always present in a surface water sample, but that concentrations are highly variable often with pulses during rain events. Phytotoxins belong to many classes, but often with flavonoids and alkaloids dominating. Likewise, advanced monitoring discovers a wide spectrum of cyanobacterial metabolites that are released directly into surface waters during water blooms. Except of the few known cyanobacterial toxins, we have very limited info regarding their environmental fate and toxicity.The 16 papers in this article collection present examples of natural toxin occurrence, properties, fate and toxicity. The overarching conclusion is that natural toxins should be monitored and characterized regarding their risk potential, and that natural toxins of greatest expected risk should be evaluated as thoroughly as industrial xenobiotics. Cyanotoxins are well known water contaminants that should be removed for producing drinking water, while for phytotoxins the current knowledge base is very limited. We advocate to intensify research on natural toxins, and to address the evident knowledge gaps on natural toxin analysis/monitoring, physical–chemical properties and degradation/pathways, transport modelling, and toxicity. The complex and dynamic interplays between biotic and site conditions such as vegetation, toxic plant densities, climate, soil types, nutrients and radiation, play decisive roles for both biotoxin formation and fate. Environmental and toxicological research in biosynthesized compounds extends beyond natural toxins, with important perspectives for risk assessment of biopesticides, growth regulators and biomedicine (or biologicals collectively) produced by plants and microorganisms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 266-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Blake ◽  
Ken Pallett
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Schwarz ◽  
Daniela Gildemeister ◽  
Arne Hein ◽  
Patrick Schröder ◽  
Jean Bachmann

AbstractHuman pharmaceuticals are extensively studied and assessed before marketing approval. Since 2006, this also includes an assessment of environmental risks. In the European Union, this is based on the guideline on the environmental risk assessment of medicinal products for human use (EMEA/CHMP/SWP/4447/00 corr 2), which is currently under revision. For Germany, the German Environment Agency (UBA) is tasked with the evaluation of environmental risks of human pharmaceuticals. Applicants seeking approval of medicinal products need to submit fate and effect data, in case predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) exceed 10 ng/L in surface waters, or the substance is of specific concern through its mode of action or physico-chemical characteristics.Over the last decade, this regulatory work resulted in an internal agency database containing effect data on approximately 300 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). A considerable part of this data is currently not publicly available due to property rights held by the respective applicants. The database was evaluated to draw conclusions on how the current assessment approach may be improved.The evaluation of aquatic effect data shows considerable variation in ecotoxic effect concentrations, but supports the current use of 10 ng/L as PEC action limit. For endocrine-active substances and antibiotics, a clear sensitivity profile was observed, which allows a more targeted assessment in the future. The conclusions drawn from terrestrial effect data are less clear, as the database itself is biased because information is only available for substances with high sorption. Further adaptations of the terrestrial assessment strategy, including action triggers, appear necessary. Fate data show a high persistence of many APIs: approximately 43% of all APIs are classified as very persistent; 12% of these show DT50 values in a range where abiotic or biotic degradation is not expected.Overall, the evaluation has shown that improvements of the current guideline are possible.


2021 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 110881
Author(s):  
Sina Dobaradaran ◽  
Farshid Soleimani ◽  
Razegheh Akhbarizadeh ◽  
Torsten C. Schmidt ◽  
Maryam Marzban ◽  
...  

AMB Express ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyong Liu ◽  
Kai Dang ◽  
Cunzhi Li ◽  
Junhong Gao ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane (CL-20) is a compound with a polycyclic cage and an N-nitro group that has been shown to play an unfavorable role in environmental fate, biosafety, and physical health. The aim of this study was to isolate the microbial community and to identify a single microbial strain that can degrade CL-20 with desirable efficiency. Metagenomic sequencing methods were performed to investigate the dynamic changes in the composition of the community diversity. The most varied genus among the microbial community was Pseudomonas, which increased from 1.46% to 44.63% during the period of incubation (MC0–MC4). Furthermore, the new strain was isolated and identified from the activated sludge by bacterial morphological and 16s rRNA sequencing analyses. The CL-20 concentrations decreased by 75.21 μg/mL and 74.02 μg/mL in 48 h by MC4 and Pseudomonas sp. ZyL-01, respectively. Moreover, ZyL-01 could decompose 98% CL-20 of the real effluent in 14 day’s incubation with the glucose as carbon source. Finally, a draft genome sequence was obtained to predict possible degrading enzymes involved in the biodegradation of CL-20. Specifically, 330 genes that are involved in energy production and conversion were annotated by Gene Ontology functional enrichment analysis, and some of these candidates may encode enzymes that are responsible for CL-20 degradation. In summary, our studies indicate that microbes might be a valuable biological resource for the treatment of environmental contamination caused by CL-20 and that Pseudomonas sp. ZyL-01 might be a promising candidate for eradicating CL-20 to achieve a more biosafe environment and improve public health.


Applied Nano ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-205
Author(s):  
Nanxuan Mei ◽  
Jonas Hedberg ◽  
Mikael T. Ekvall ◽  
Egle Kelpsiene ◽  
Lars-Anders Hansson ◽  
...  

Cobalt (Co) nanoparticles (NPs) may be diffusely dispersed into natural ecosystems from various anthropogenic sources such as traffic settings and eventually end up in aquatic systems. As environmentally dispersed Co NPs may be transferred through an aquatic food web, this study investigated this transfer from algae (Scendesmus sp.) to zooplankton (Daphnia magna) to fish (Crucian carp, Carassius carassius). Effects of interactions between naturally excreted biomolecules from D. magna and Co NPs were investigated from an environmental fate perspective. ATR-FTIR measurements showed the adsorption of both algae constituents and excreted biomolecules onto the Co NPs. Less than 5% of the Co NPs formed heteroagglomerates with algae, partly an effect of both agglomeration and settling of the Co NPs. The presence of excreted biomolecules in the solution did not affect the extent of heteroagglomeration. Despite the low extent of heteroagglomeration between Co NPs and algae, the Co NPs were transferred to the next trophic level (D. magna). The Co uptake in D. magna was 300 times larger than the control samples (without Co NP), which were not influenced by the addition of excreted biomolecules to the solution. Significant uptake of Co was observed in the intestine of the fish feeding on D. magna containing Co NPs. No bioaccumulation of Co was observed in the fish. Moreover, 10–20% of the transferred Co NP mass was dissolved after 24 h in the simulated gut solution of the zooplankton (pH 7), and 50–60% was dissolved in the simulated gut solution of the fish (pH 4). The results elucidate that Co NPs gain different properties upon trophic transfer in the food web. Risk assessments should hence be conducted on transformed and weathered NPs rather than on pristine particles.


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