Benoxacor induction of terbuthylazine detoxification in Zea mays and Festuca arundinacea

Quinoxaline derivatives as herbicide safeners by improving Zea mays tolerance

Isoxaflutole (IXF), a 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) inhibitor, causes injury to crops leading to reductions in grain yield. In order to solve the phytotoxicity caused by IXF, the present work evaluated the protective response of the substituted quinoxaline derivatives as potential safeners on Zea mays. The bioassay results showed that all of the test compounds displayed protection against IXF. In particular, safener I-6 exhibited excellent safener activity against IXF injury via enhancing glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione S transferases (GSTs) and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYP450) activity. The tested compounds induced the activity of CYP450 and GSTs in Z. mays. The physicochemical properties and ADMET properties of safener I-6, benoxacor and diketonitrile (DKN, IXF metabolite) were compared to predict pharmaceutical behavior. The present work demonstrates that the safener I-6 could be considered as a potential candidate for developing novel safeners in the future.

Design, Synthesis, and Bioevaluation of Substituted Phenyl Isoxazole Analogues as Herbicide Safeners

Herbicide safeners enhance herbicide detoxification in crops without affecting target weed sensitivity. To enhance crop tolerance to the toxicity-related stress caused by the herbicide acetochlor (ACT), a new class of substituted phenyl isoxazole derivatives was designed by an intermediate derivatization method as herbicide safeners. Microwave-assisted synthesis was used to prepare the phenyl isoxazole analogues, and all of the structures were confirmed via IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and HRMS. Compound I-1 was further characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis. Bioassay results showed that most of the obtained compounds provided varying degrees of safening against ACT-induced injury by increasing the corn growth recovery, glutathione content, and glutathione S-transferase activity. In particular, compound I-20 showed excellent safener activity against ACT toxicity, comparable to that of the commercial safener benoxacor. Gaussian calculations have been performed and the results indicated that the nucleophilic ability of compound I-20 is higher than that of benoxacor, thus the activity is higher than that of benoxacor. These findings demonstrate that phenyl isoxazole derivatives possess great potential for protective management in cornfields.

Typha latifolia as potential phytoremediator of 2,4-dichlorophenol: Analysis of tolerance, uptake and possible transformation processes

2,4-Dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) is considered a priority pollutant due to its high toxicity. Therefore, it is urgent to develop technologies for the disposal of this pollutant. Various remediation processes have been proposed for the elimination of 2,4-DCP in contaminated water, however, most of them involve high costs of operation and maintenance. This study aimed to determine the capacity of remediation of 2,4-DCP in water by Typha latifolia L. wild plants. For that, the tolerance, removal, accumulation and biotransformation of 2,4-DCP by T. latifolia were investigated. The plants were exposed to 2,4-DCP solutions with a concentration range from 1.5 to 300 mgL^-1 for 10 days. They exhibited a reduction in chlorophyll levels and growth rate when 2,4-DCP solutions were ≥30 mgL^-1 and ≥50 mgL^-1, respectively. The removal of contaminant was dose-depended, being 99.7% at 1.5-3 mgL^-1, 59-70% at 10-70 mgL^-1 and 35-42% at 100-300 mgL^-1 of 2,4-DCP in the solution. Studies indicated that 2,4-DCP was mainly accumulated in root tissue rather than in shoot tissue. Acid hydrolysis of biomass extracts suggests 2,4-DCP bioconjugates formation in root tissue as a response mechanism. Additionally, an increment in glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity could indicate a 2,4-DCP conjugation with glutathione as a detoxification mechanism of T. latifolia.

A novel function of sanshools: the alleviation of injury from metolachlor in rice seedlings

Szechuan peppers are extensively used as a spice and in traditional medicine in Asia, primarily because of its active compounds, sanshools (S). However, there is only limited mention in agriculture, and there are no papers reporting its use as an herbicide safener. In this study, we provide the first evidence that S can effectively alleviate rice-seedling injury from metolachlor (M). We observed that the M-treated (0.25 μM) rice seedlings, which were 56.0%, 66.0%, and 57.0% of the non-treated control in shoot height, root length, and fresh biomass, respectively, were recovered by S to 93.1%, 97.6%, and 94.8%, respectively. The emergence rate was enhanced to over 80% in the M+S treatment, whereas it was below 60% in the M treatment. This M+S mixture elevated the rice-seedling root activity to higher than 87.0% of the value for the non-treated control. The activity of glutathione transferases in the combined treatments approximately doubles that of the M treatment and quadruples that of the non-treated controls. This effect was positively correlated with the induced expression of OsGSTU3. Our results suggest that S may represent a new group of safeners and enable the possibility of using these compounds for improving plant production or protecting rice from the phytotoxicity of metolachlor.

Simple and efficient synthesis of novel N-dichloroacetyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzoxazines

An easy synthetic route to N-dichloroacetyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzoxazine derivatives 3 involves cyclization of 2-aminophenols 1 with 1,2-dibromoethane and subsequent acylation of the resultant 3,4-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzoxazine derivatives 2 with dichloroacetyl chloride. All compounds were characterized by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analysis. The structure of 3a was determined by X-ray crystallographic analysis.

1-(6-Bromo-3,4-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-4-yl)-2,2-dichloroethanone

The title compound, C₁₀H₈BrCl₂NO₂, is a target mol­ecule in our research on herbicide safeners. The oxazine ring has an envelope conformation, with puckering parameters close to ideal values [Q = 0.498 (3) Å, θ = 53.7 (3)° and ϕ = 253.4 (4)°]. The crystal structure is stabilized by C—H⋯O, C—H⋯Cl and C—H⋯Br inter­actions.

Co-induction of a glutathione-S-transferase, a glutathione transporter and an ABC transporter in maize by xenobiotics

Glutathione conjugation reactions are one of the principal mechanisms that plants utilize to detoxify xenobiotics. The induction by four herbicides (2,4-D, atrazine, metolachlor and primisulfuron) and a herbicide safener (dichlormid) on the expression of three genes, ZmGST27, ZmGT1 and ZmMRP1, encoding respectively a glutathione-S-transferase, a glutathione transporter and an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter was studied in maize. The results demonstrate that the inducing effect on gene expression varies with both chemicals and genes. The expression of ZmGST27 and ZmMRP1 was up-regulated by all five compounds, whereas that of ZmGT1 was increased by atrazine, metolachlor, primisulfuron and dichlormid, but not by 2,4-D. For all chemicals, the inducing effect was first detected on ZmGST27. The finding that ZmGT1 is activated alongside ZmGST27 and ZmMRP1 suggests that glutathione transporters are an important component in the xenobiotic detoxification system of plants.

Glutathione S-transferases of italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum): activity toward some chemicals, safener modulation and persistence of atrazine and fluorodifen in the shoots

Many varieties of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) show resistance to herbicides; while this ability was frequently attributed to alterations in the target sites of the herbicide's action of the plant or to an efficient oxidative metabolism, little attention has been paid to glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), which are a family of detoxifying enzymes involved in the inactivation of many toxic compounds. To investigate the role of GSTs, seedlings of Italian ryegrass were treated with four herbicides (atrazine, fenoxaprop-ethyl, fluorodifen, metolachlor) and a safener (fenchlorazol-ethyl). All the treatments were well tolerated by the plant, with very low decreases in terms of fresh weight and length of shoots. Regarding GST activity, the chemicals generally determined significant increases in the above enzyme activity toward the model-substrate CDNB. Therefore, the herbicides most GST inducing and the safener were tested themselves as enzyme substrates: constitutive GST activities toward atrazine, fluorodifen and fenchlorazol-ethyl were found, and, in addition, these activities were significantly induced by the safener. Following these results, a HPLC procedure was standardized in order to investigate the persistence of atrazine and fluorodifen in the seedlings of Italian ryegrass and the effect on this of the safener. It was found that the residual amounts of the two herbicides in the shoots were significantly reduced following the safener treatments.

Glutathione S-transferases in Festuca arundinacea: identification, characterization and inducibility by safener benoxacor

Over recent years it has emerged how certain no crop-species can be employed in phytoremediating contaminated soils or preventing herbicide pollution; in this contest Festuca arundinacea was investigated. Shoots of Festuca were submitted to fast protein liquid chromatography in order to identify their glutathione S-transferases (GST; EC 2.5.1.18), by a combination of anionic, affinity and RP-HPLC chromatography. The chromatographic procedure revealed satisfactory yield and four GSTs were identified: they were named FaGST I, FaGST II, FaGST III and FaGST IV. Among these, significant differences were observed in the chromatographic behaviours, structure, activity toward a "model" substrate, 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, and responsiveness to the herbicide safener benoxacor. FaGST I showed the highest activity toward the above substrate, and this activity was up-regulated by the herbicide safener. Therefore, FaGST I was purified till homogeneity and was determined to be an heterodimer consisting of two subunits of 28.0 and 27.2kDa. Each subunit of FaGST I was further characterized by means of LC-ESI-MS/MS and immunoblotting analysis, which revealed that both the subunits belong to the tau subclass.

Induction of wheat and maize glutathione S-transferase by some herbicide safeners and their effect on enzyme activity against butachlor and terbuthylazine

The expression of glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity in wheat and maize shoots was investigated in response to treatments with the herbicide safeners benoxacor, cloquintocet-mexyl, fenchlorazole-ethyl, fenclorim, fluxofenim and oxabetrinil. These safeners significantly enhanced the GST activity towards 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) as a 'standard' substrate, with the exception of oxabetrinil in maize. The enhancements of GST (CDNB) activity were found to be concomitant with increases in V(max) (the reaction rate when the enzyme is fully saturated by the substrate) in wheat following cloquintocet-mexyl and fenchlorazole-ethyl treatments, and in maize following fenchlorazole-ethyl treatment. Otherwise, decreases in V(max) were observed in wheat and maize following fenclorim and fluxofenim treatments. With the exception of oxabetrinil, all the safeners significantly reduced the apparent K(M) (the substrate concentration required for 50% of maximum GST activity) of both wheat and maize GST. The V(max) and K(M) variations following safener treatments are discussed in terms of an increased expression of GST enzymes and an increased affinity for the CDNB substrate. The activity of wheat and maize GST was also assayed towards butachlor and terbuthylazine respectively; the results indicate the ability of cloquintocet-mexyl, fenchlorazole-ethyl and fluxofenim to enhance the enzyme activity in wheat and of benoxacor and fenchlorazole-ethyl to do so in maize.