A study conducted by Brazilian researchers affiliated with São Paulo State University (UNESP), the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV) has shown how three pesticides widely used by farmers in Brazil—imidacloprid, pyraclostrobin and glyphosate—affect native stingless bees of the species Melipona scutellaris. Whether they are used singly or combined, the pesticides impaired the bees ability to move about and weakened their defenses. The study is published in the journal Environmental Pollution.
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IMAGE: Image of a mitofusin-2 deficient egg shows mitochondria [stained green] to be fewer, more aggregated, and swollen than in controls view more
Credit: Marcos Chiaratti
A Brazilian study published in the journal
Molecular Human Reproduction helps understand why obese mothers tend to have children with a propensity to develop metabolic disease during their lifetime, as suggested by previous research.
According to the authors, transgenerational transmission of metabolic diseases may be associated with Mfn2 deficiency in the mother s oocytes (immature eggs). Mfn2 refers to mitofusin-2, a protein involved in the regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. It is normally found in the outer membrane of mitochondria, the organelles that supply cells with energy. A deficiency leads to mitochondrial swelling and dysfunction, as well as altering the expression of almost 1,000 genes in female gametes.