Typologie d'actualités: Team Molecular, Structural and Chemical Biology

Neonicotinoids

A scientific article linking the contamination of soils by neonicotinoid pesticides and their presence in hair of people in the Philippines has just been published by Jean-Marc Bonmatin et al. (2020) in the journal Science of the Total Environment. This article is part of researches carried out on human health by the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, which brings together more than sixty independent researchers (www.tfsp.info & Facebook TFSP). This article also sheds light on the exposure of populations, particularly in the context of the possible reintroduction of neonicotinoids for sugar beet in France.

This article is highlighted by the CNRS chemistry institute.

RNA Remodeling Proteins, Methods and Protocols

The second edition of the book “RNA Remodeling Proteins, Methods and Protocols” edited by Marc Boudvillain has just been published.

This volume of the “Methods in Molecular Biology” series compiles new methods to study RNA-protein complexes and the mechanisms leading to their structural remodeling. The volume includes 4 chapters written by CBM researchers and ideally complements the first edition published in 2015.

 

Metabolomic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies at Presymptomatic and Symptomatic Stages of Huntington’s Disease on a Drosophila Model

Huntington’s disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder, for which diagnostic development and discovery of new therapeutic targets are urgently required. In this study, a model of HD in Drosophila melanogaster has been used to identify metabolic biomarkers at presymptomatic and symptomatic stages of the disease. The pan-neuronal expression of a pathogenic fragment of the human Huntingtin (HTT) protein containing a 93-repeat polyglutamine expansion (Httex1p Q93) in transgenic flies induces a neuropathology with several characteristics of the human disease. The discriminant metabolites between the diseased flies and their controls were identified by 1H-NMR and OPLS-DA multivariate analysis.
The experiments carried out with 10-day-old flies allowed us to identify a set of 10 biomarkers of the presymptomatic stage: NAD+, AMP, fumarate, asparagine, dimethylamine, β-alanine, glutamine, succinate, glutamate, and ethanol. Remarkably, the experiments conducted with 16-day-old flies, when the symptoms of the disease were present, highlighted a different set of 6 biomarkers: phosphocholine, ethanolamine, 2-oxoglutarate, succinate, pyruvate, and acetate. Results provide a better understanding of the metabolic impairments in a widely used HD model and demonstrate that metabolism perturbations change dramatically during the development of the disease.

Metabolomic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies at Presymptomatic and Symptomatic Stages of Huntington’s Disease on a Drosophila Model
Marylène Bertrand, Martine Decoville, Hervé Meudal, Serge Birman, and Céline Landon
Journal of Proteome Research (2020) 19, (10) 4034-4045 - doi : 10.1021/10.1021/acs.jproteome.0c00335

Impact of pesticides on health through diet

Jean-Marc Bonmatin and his collaborators from the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides  published a substantial article on the impact of pesticides on health through food, and on alternative agronomic solutions, in the journal Environment International.

This article follows two other journal articles on alternatives to pesticides and recently published article 1,  article 2. This new article resonates particularly with the questioning of the total ban on neonicotinoid insecticides in France.

Summary :

The article first examines the risks of pesticides associated with the consumption of fruits and vegetables. It then lists the effective agronomic alternatives by product, geography and chemical compound. Thus, in all countries, the use of pesticides contaminates up to 97% of food products and up to 42% of these products present a real risk to consumers. For example, multiple residues are present in 70-92% of stone fruits (USA and China) while 58% of American cauliflower is contaminated with neonicotinoid insecticides. Scientific alternatives and decision support frameworks can promote healthy eating. Increasingly, growers are reducing risk and potential harm by deliberately refraining from the use of pesticides. As such, opportunities abound to promote “win-win” diets that promote human health and preserve global biodiversity.

In favor of biodiversity

Jean-Marc Bonmatin is one of 366 scientists, from 42 countries, who are signatories of a correspondence in Nature Ecology & Evolution (2020) entitled “Integrating agroecological production in a robust post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework” (Nature Ecology and Evolution).

This text is a call for decisions which proposes pragmatic solutions to be put in place urgently for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity, this starting with large-scale agroecological practices.