REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Glyphosate

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Saturday, September 29, 2018 19:59
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018 11:14 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees
Erick V. S. Motta, Kasie Raymann, and Nancy A. Moran
PNAS published ahead of print September 24, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1803880115

Edited by Margaret J. McFall-Ngai, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, and approved August 21, 2018 (received for review March 6, 2018)

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Significance

Increased mortality of honey bee colonies has been attributed to several factors but is not fully understood. The herbicide glyphosate is expected to be innocuous to animals, including bees, because it targets an enzyme only found in plants and microorganisms. However, bees rely on a specialized gut microbiota that benefits growth and provides defense against pathogens. Most bee gut bacteria contain the enzyme targeted by glyphosate, but vary in whether they possess susceptible versions and, correspondingly, in tolerance to glyphosate. Exposing bees to glyphosate alters the bee gut community and increases susceptibility to infection by opportunistic pathogens. Understanding how glyphosate impacts bee gut symbionts and bee health will help elucidate a possible role of this chemical in colony decline.
Abstract

Glyphosate, the primary herbicide used globally for weed control, targets the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) enzyme in the shikimate pathway found in plants and some microorganisms. Thus, glyphosate may affect bacterial symbionts of animals living near agricultural sites, including pollinators such as bees. The honey bee gut microbiota is dominated by eight bacterial species that promote weight gain and reduce pathogen susceptibility. The gene encoding EPSPS is present in almost all sequenced genomes of bee gut bacteria, indicating that they are potentially susceptible to glyphosate. We demonstrated that the relative and absolute abundances of dominant gut microbiota species are decreased in bees exposed to glyphosate at concentrations documented in the environment. Glyphosate exposure of young workers increased mortality of bees subsequently exposed to the opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens. Members of the bee gut microbiota varied in susceptibility to glyphosate, largely corresponding to whether they possessed an EPSPS of class I (sensitive to glyphosate) or class II (insensitive to glyphosate). This basis for differences in sensitivity was confirmed using in vitro experiments in which the EPSPS gene from bee gut bacteria was cloned into Escherichia coli. All strains of the core bee gut species, Snodgrassella alvi, encode a sensitive class I EPSPS, and reduction in S. alvi levels was a consistent experimental result. However, some S. alvi strains appear to possess an alternative mechanism of glyphosate resistance. Thus, exposure of bees to glyphosate can perturb their beneficial gut microbiota, potentially affecting bee health and their effectiveness as pollinators.

honey beesmicrobiomeglyphosateSnodgrassella alviSerratia

The broad-spectrum herbicide glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] has long been the primary weed management system, and its use is growing in connection with crops genetically engineered to be resistant to glyphosate (1, 2). Its mechanism of action, inhibition of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), an enzyme in the shikimate pathway, prevents the biosynthesis of aromatic amino acids and other secondary metabolites in plants and some microorganisms (3). EPSPS catalyzes the reaction between phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and shikimate 3-phosphate (S3P) (4), and glyphosate is a competitive inhibitor that blocks the PEP-binding site (5). EPSPS enzymes from different organisms vary in molecular weight (46–178 kDa) and sequence homology (6) and form two phylogenetic clusters that differ in tolerance to glyphosate. Class I enzymes are sensitive to glyphosate and are present in all plants and in some bacteria, such as Escherichia coli (4); class II enzymes are only found in some bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus, and can tolerate high concentrations of glyphosate (7, 8).

Animals lack the shikimate pathway, which is why glyphosate is considered one of the least toxic pesticides used in agriculture (9). However, some evidence suggests that glyphosate affects nontarget organisms, for example, changing the behavior of honey bees (10), reducing reproduction of soil-dwelling earthworms (11), and affecting the growth of microalgae and aquatic bacteria (12). Glyphosate is also associated with changes in plant endophytic and rhizosphere microbiomes (2) and with disturbances of gut microbiota of animals living near agricultural sites (13).

Honey bees and bumble bees are major pollinators of flowering plants, including many crops. When foraging, they can be exposed to a variety of xenobiotics, such as glyphosate. This herbicide is known to affect the growth of microorganisms (13?–15), and the health of bees is intrinsically related to their distinct gut microbial community (16, 17). The honey bee gut microbiota is dominated by eight bacterial species: Lactobacillus spp. Firm-4, Lactobacillus spp. Firm-5 (phylum Firmicutes), Bifidobacterium spp. (phylum Actinobacteria), Snodgrassella alvi, Gilliamella apicola, Frischella perrara, Bartonella apis, and Alpha 2.1 (phylum Proteobacteria) (18). Each of these species exhibits strain diversity corresponding to differences in metabolic capabilities and tolerances to xenobiotics (19, 20). Newly emerged workers (NEWs) are nearly free of gut bacteria and acquire their normal microbial community orally through social interactions with other workers during the first few days after emergence (21). Bees deprived of their normal microbiota show reduced weight gain and altered metabolism (22), increased pathogen susceptibility (17), and increased mortality within hives (23).

In this study, we investigated the effects of glyphosate exposure on the size and composition of the honey bee gut microbiome. We found the microbiome was affected by glyphosate exposure during and after gut colonization, and that glyphosate exposure during early gut colonization increased mortality of bees exposed to an opportunistic pathogen. Additionally, bee gut bacteria differ in glyphosate susceptibility. We explored the molecular mechanisms of this variability in glyphosate tolerance by expressing the EPSPS of bee gut symbionts in E. coli. Some bee gut bacteria tolerate glyphosate by virtue of a class II EPSPS, but a few strains with susceptible class I EPSPS depend on other, yet unknown, mechanisms for tolerance. Overall, our results show that glyphosate exposure can perturb the gut microbiota of honey bees, and that compositional shifts typically favor species tolerant to glyphosate and disfavor sensitive species.

MORE AT http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/09/18/1803880115

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Wednesday, September 26, 2018 11:18 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I found the scientific article thru ... guess what? ... ZeroHedge, which linked in in THIS article ...

Quote:

Monsanto's Glyphosate Linked To Global Decline In Honey Bees

Glyphosate, the world's most common weed killer, has caused significant concerns over its potential risk to human health, animals, and the environment for several decades. Earlier this month, a US court awarded a groundskeeper $289 million who claimed Bayer AG unit Monsanto's glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, gave him terminal cancer.

Now, a new report from PNAS alleges that glyphosate may be indirectly killing honey bees around the world, a threat that could potentially also leave a major mark on the global economy.

Brand new research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that bees exposed to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, lose critical bacterial in their guts and are more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria.

The report titled "Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees," was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on September 24. It provides enough evidence that glyphosate could be seen as the contributing factor to the rapid decline of honey bees around the world, otherwise known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind the queen.

“We need better guidelines for glyphosate use, especially regarding bee exposure, because right now the guidelines assume bees are not harmed by the herbicide,” said Erick Motta, the graduate student who led the research, along with professor Nancy Moran. “Our study shows that’s not true.”


MORE AT
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-25/weed-killer-linked-colony-co
llapse-disorder-honey-bees


-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876

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Saturday, September 29, 2018 2:14 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I found the scientific article thru ... guess what? ... ZeroHedge, which linked in in THIS article ...
Quote:

Monsanto's Glyphosate Linked To Global Decline In Honey Bees

Glyphosate, the world's most common weed killer, has caused significant concerns over its potential risk to human health, animals, and the environment for several decades. Earlier this month, a US court awarded a groundskeeper $289 million who claimed Bayer AG unit Monsanto's glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, gave him terminal cancer.

Now, a new report from PNAS alleges that glyphosate may be indirectly killing honey bees around the world, a threat that could potentially also leave a major mark on the global economy.

Brand new research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that bees exposed to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, lose critical bacterial in their guts and are more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria.

The report titled "Glyphosate perturbs the gut microbiota of honey bees," was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on September 24. It provides enough evidence that glyphosate could be seen as the contributing factor to the rapid decline of honey bees around the world, otherwise known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a colony disappear and leave behind the queen.

“We need better guidelines for glyphosate use, especially regarding bee exposure, because right now the guidelines assume bees are not harmed by the herbicide,” said Erick Motta, the graduate student who led the research, along with professor Nancy Moran. “Our study shows that’s not true.”


MORE AT
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-09-25/weed-killer-linked-colony-co
llapse-disorder-honey-bees


I fear this thread will get buried in this forum, amidst Russia! and Metoo! and Fake News.

Why is REAL World Event Discussion dominated by Fake News?


Also, Bayer owns Monsanto. Ugh. Conflict of interest, anyone? Or mutually supportive business model, like when Tylenol headache tablets include the poison which CREATES headaches?

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Saturday, September 29, 2018 6:13 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


The reason why I brought this up is because the REAL negative effect of glyphosate may be on microorganisms.

I watched a video on GMO foods, but in order to understand GMO you have to realize that most of the GMO plants have been created in order to resist glyphosate, so that you can DRENCH a field with the herbicide, kill the weeds and have your soybeans and corn survive.

So in that video they explained that glyphosate was originally developed as an antibiotic. They showed fields which had been repeatedly treated with glyphosate over eight or nine years, and how they were much LESS green, how poor the plant growth was, compared to untreated fields right next to them.

Well, plants and microbes have a (hopefully) beneficial relationship. It's like the microbes in your gut ... mostly beneficial, occasionally pathogenic. If you kill soil microbes, roots won't grow properly. So farmers can spend a lot of money on GMO seed and glyphosate and wind up doing worse, and worse, and worse with time...

And then, what do glyphosate residues do to OUR gut microbes?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

"The messy American environment, where most people don't agree, is perfect for people like me. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE." - SECOND

America is an oligarchy http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?tid=57876

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Saturday, September 29, 2018 7:59 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The reason why I brought this up is because the REAL negative effect of glyphosate may be on microorganisms.

I watched a video on GMO foods, but in order to understand GMO you have to realize that most of the GMO plants have been created in order to resist glyphosate, so that you can DRENCH a field with the herbicide, kill the weeds and have your soybeans and corn survive.

So in that video they explained that glyphosate was originally developed as an antibiotic. They showed fields which had been repeatedly treated with glyphosate over eight or nine years, and how they were much LESS green, how poor the plant growth was, compared to untreated fields right next to them.

Well, plants and microbes have a (hopefully) beneficial relationship. It's like the microbes in your gut ... mostly beneficial, occasionally pathogenic. If you kill soil microbes, roots won't grow properly. So farmers can spend a lot of money on GMO seed and glyphosate and wind up doing worse, and worse, and worse with time...

And then, what do glyphosate residues do to OUR gut microbes?

Perhaps you do not understand. Bees are not listed in the PROFIT Column for Monsanto.

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