Calculating the Na⁺ translocating V-ATPase catalytic site affinity for substrate binding by homology modeled NtpA monomer using molecular dynamics/free energy calculation

Mechanism Underlying Time-dependent Cross-phenomenon between Concentration-response Curves and Concentration Addition Curves: A Case Study of Sulfonamides-Erythromycin mixtures on Escherichia coli

Previous studies have identified a phenomenon in which the concentration-response curves (CRCs) for mixtures cross the curves for concentration addition model when predicting or judging joint toxic actions. However, mechanistic investigations of this phenomenon are extremely limited. In this study, a similar phenomenon was observed when we determined the joint toxic actions of sulfonamides (SAs) and erythromycin (ERY) on Escherichia coli (E. coli), which we named the "cross-phenomenon", and it was characterized by antagonism in the low-concentration range, addition in the medium-concentration range, and synergism in the high-concentration range. The mechanistic investigation of the cross-phenomenon was as follows: SAs and ERY could form a double block to inhibit the bacterial growth by exhibiting a synergistic effect; however, the hormetic effect of SAs on E. coli led to antagonism in the low-concentration range, resulting from the stimulation of sdiA mRNA expression by SAs, which increased the expression of the efflux pump (AcrAB-TolC) to discharge ERY. Furthermore, this cross-phenomenon was observed to be a time-dependent process induced by the increase of both the concentration and extent of stimulation of sdiA mRNA with exposure time. This work explains the dose-dependent and time-dependent cross-phenomenon and provides evidence regarding the interaction between hormesis and cross-phenomenon.

Balance between herbicidal activity and toxicity effect: a case study of the joint effects of triazine and phenylurea herbicides on Selenastrum capricornutum and Photobacterium phosphoreum

The use of herbicide mixtures has become a cost-effective strategy against the evolution of herbicide resistance to protect global food production. Much research has focused on investigating either the herbicidal activities or the toxicity effects of herbicides; however, few of them have investigated both factors. This study investigates the balance between herbicidal activity for Selenastrum capricornutum and toxicity effect toward Photobacterium phosphoreum by determining the joint effects of triazine (simetryn, atrazine, prometon and prometryn) and phenylurea (fenuron, monuron, monolinuron and diuron) herbicides. The results showed that among the four triazines, only simetryn exhibited a unique effect (formation of a pi-sigma bond with the D1 microalga protein and an H-bond with the Luc photobacterial protein); and among 16 triazine-phenylurea binary mixtures, only the mixtures containing simetryn resulted in TU1 values (herbicidal activities of mixtures on S. capricornutum) >TU2 values (toxicity effects of mixtures on P. phosphoreum). However, the other 12 mixtures, which did not contain simetryn, showed the opposite result (TU1<TU2). A comparison of TU1 with TU2 showed that additive effects occurred more frequently for TU1, whereas antagonism effects occurred more frequently for TU2. Based on these results, a preliminary mechanistic hypothesis of herbicide mixtures was proposed. Meanwhile, some suggestions are provided firstly for herbicide combinations based on the balance between herbicidal activity and toxicity effect, which will encourage thoughtful efforts for how to best combine herbicides in a sustainable way.