Glyphosate and its formulations Roundup Bioflow and RangerPro alter bacterial and fungal community composition in the rat caecum microbiome

Authors

Robin Mesnage, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, Gene Expression and Therapy Group, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London, United Kingdom.
Simona Panzacchi, Ramazzini Institute, Bologna, Italy.
Emma Bourne, Genome Centre, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Blizard Institute, London, United Kingdom.
Charles A. Mein, Genome Centre, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Blizard Institute, London, United Kingdom.
Melissa J. Perry, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States.
Jianzhong Hu, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
Jia Chen, Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Heath, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States.
Daniele Mandrioli, Ramazzini Institute, Bologna, Italy.
Fiorella Belpoggi, Ramazzini Institute, Bologna, Italy.
Michael N. Antoniou, Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, Gene Expression and Therapy Group, King's College London, Guy's Hospital, London, United Kingdom.

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2022

Journal

Frontiers in microbiology

Volume

13

DOI

10.3389/fmicb.2022.888853

Keywords

glyphosate; microbiota (16S); mycobiome; pesticides; toxicity

Abstract

The potential health consequences of glyphosate-induced gut microbiome alterations have become a matter of intense debate. As part of a multifaceted study investigating toxicity, carcinogenicity and multigenerational effects of glyphosate and its commercial herbicide formulations, we assessed changes in bacterial and fungal populations in the caecum microbiota of rats exposed prenatally until adulthood (13 weeks after weaning) to three doses of glyphosate (0.5, 5, 50 mg/kg body weight/day), or to the formulated herbicide products Roundup Bioflow and RangerPro at the same glyphosate-equivalent doses. Caecum bacterial microbiota were evaluated by 16S rRNA sequencing whilst the fungal population was determined by ITS2 amplicon sequencing. Results showed that both fungal and bacterial diversity were affected by the Roundup formulations in a dose-dependent manner, whilst glyphosate alone significantly altered only bacterial diversity. At taxa level, a reduction in Bacteroidota abundance, marked by alterations in the levels of and , was concomitant to increased levels of Firmicutes (e.g., , , ) and Actinobacteria (e.g., , or ) and also had their levels reduced by the pesticide treatments. Analysis of fungal composition indicated that the abundance of the rat gut commensal Ascomycota was reduced while the abundance of and were increased by exposure to the Roundup formulations, but not to glyphosate. Altogether, our data suggest that glyphosate and its Roundup RangerPro and Bioflow caused profound changes in caecum microbiome composition by affecting the fitness of major commensals, which in turn reduced competition and allowed opportunistic fungi to grow in the gut, in particular in animals exposed to the herbicide formulations. This further indicates that changes in gut microbiome composition might influence the long-term toxicity, carcinogenicity and multigenerational effects of glyphosate-based herbicides.

APA Citation

Mesnage, Robin; Panzacchi, Simona; Bourne, Emma; Mein, Charles A.; Perry, Melissa J.; Hu, Jianzhong; Chen, Jia; Mandrioli, Daniele; Belpoggi, Fiorella; and Antoniou, Michael N., "Glyphosate and its formulations Roundup Bioflow and RangerPro alter bacterial and fungal community composition in the rat caecum microbiome" (2022). GW Authored Works. Paper 1812.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/1812

Department

Environmental and Occupational Health