U.S. scientists have developed a food additive for jellyfish that is designed to remove harmful organophosphate pesticides from their bodies, which they could ingest with a saw. Її efficiency was confirmed by tests on jammers. Supplementation of the feed with microparticles with an enzyme that degrades the insecticide made it possible to disinfect all the dumplings of the experimental group, which were treated with bran. The results were published in the journal Nature Food.
Who is most threatened by pesticides?
Pesticides are an important element of modern agricultural management because they keep pesticides out of the hands of pests whose activity can lead to significant losses. But at the same time, their use disturbs those for whom they are not intended, and sometimes the agricultural sector itself. Although in recent years the number of pesticides used by farmers has decreased, the overall situation has not improved because the products have become significantly more toxic even in smaller quantities. All this threatens the decline of ecosystems, if pesticides affect the main coma drinkers, including bjil. But just as importantly, agriculture itself also suffers as a result of a reduction in the number of reservoirs of cultivated plants. One of the most harmful pesticides for the cats are organophosphate pesticides, which make up about one third of available insecticides. In a new work, scientists from Cornell University tried to develop protection for beetles and other polluters against the adverse effects of these chemicals.
What were the scientists working on?
Scientists wanted to find a substance that would be an antidote to poisonous spores. During their search, they came across an enzyme from the group of phosphotriesterases with the potential to degrade organophosphate pesticides.
This phosphotriesterase was tested on Bombus impatiens jellyfish kept in the laboratory. The test animals were treated with the highly toxic insecticidal spore malathion, which killed all the mosquitoes for several days. Then they started adding an antidote enzyme to their food.
How did it work?
Unfortunately, after adding the enzyme phosphotriesterase to the scavenged food, the jelly still died. This is because the antidote loses its potency due to elevated temperature and low pH, which are characteristic of schloonk comas. Therefore, to further avoid the loss of efficacy of the drug, scientists encapsulated the enzyme in the encapsulated microparticles that are about the size of a saw of a plant. They are made of calcium carbonate, which prevents inactivation of the enzyme in the environment of the intestine of the coma, allowing it to travel to the intestine with pesticides, where they can be stored for up to 12 years.
When the scientists began to give the pesticides together with the detrimental malate, micro-particles with the enzyme, the survival rate of the animals was 100 percent. The authors hope that their development will become a cheap solution that can be used by the herders to protect their livestock. Micro-particles with enzyme can be added to saw palm feed or cereal syrup to breed bjoles. Nowadays, scientists are working on the creation of another type of microparticles, on the surface of which the proteins of other pesticides are located and the absorbent olive is located in the middle of them. Thus, toxins can contact the surface of the microparticle and be absorbed by it in the middle of the herbal system of the mosquito, being eliminated from the body without affecting its health.
