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Acute exposure to a commercial formulation of Azoxystrobin alters antioxidant enzymes and elicit damage in the aquatic macrophyte Myriophyllum quitense

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Abstract

Azoxystrobin is a strobilurin of growing concern in aquatic environments because it is the most sold fungicide worldwide, however, the information available about its effect on aquatic non-target organisms is scarce. The objective of the present study was to evaluate potential physiological, biochemical, and genetic effects at environmentally relevant (1–10 μg/L) and elevated (100–500 μg/L) concentrations in the aquatic macrophyte Myriophyllum quitense exposed to the commercial formulation AMISTAR®. Following an acute 24-h exposure, there were no effects of AMISTAR® on photosynthetic pigments at any of the concentrations evaluated. Glutathione-S-transferase activity was significantly elevated at 1 and 10 μg/L AZX. Significant decrease of catalase and guaiacol peroxidase activities in plants exposed to 500 μg/L, and to 100 and 500 μg/L, respectively, and an increase in glycolate oxidase activity at 500 μg/L was observed. DNA damage at 100 and 500 μg/L was observed. These data indicate that although environmentally relevant levels of AMISTAR® did not result cytotoxic, this fungicide was genotoxic, affecting the physiological process of photorespiration and caused oxidative damage at high concentrations. In this sense, it is necessary to explore sub-lethal responses in non-target organisms because some effects could promote further potential long-term biological consequences in a context of repeated pulses of exposure.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by FONCYT (PICT 2011 1597 and PICT 2013 1348) and UNMdP (EXA 795/16). This work is part of the Ph D. Thesis of D. Garanzini. We thanks very much Verónica Taglioretti and Gastón Iturburu for helping us with the statistical analysis of the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lab. Ecotoxicología, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC)-UNMDP/CONICET, Funes 3350, 7600, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Daniela S. Garanzini & Mirta L. Menone

  2. Fares Taie Instituto de Análisis, Magallanes 3019, 7600, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Sandra Medici

  3. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Capital Federal, Argentina

    Sandra Medici

  4. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales- UNMDP, Funes 3350, 7600, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Lucía D. Moreyra

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  1. Daniela S. Garanzini
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  2. Sandra Medici
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  4. Mirta L. Menone
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Correspondence to Mirta L. Menone.

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Garanzini, D.S., Medici, S., Moreyra, L.D. et al. Acute exposure to a commercial formulation of Azoxystrobin alters antioxidant enzymes and elicit damage in the aquatic macrophyte Myriophyllum quitense. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 25, 135–143 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-018-0603-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-018-0603-7

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