Herbicide safety relative to common targets in plants and mammals

Author: Shaner D.L.

Source: Pest Management Science, Volume 60, Number 1, January 2004 , pp. 17-24(8)

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Abstract:

Most modern herbicides have low mammalian toxicity. One of the reasons for this safety is that the target site for the herbicides is not often present in mammals. There are approximately 20 mechanisms of action that have been elucidated for herbicides. Of these, some do share common target sites with mammals. The mechanisms include formation of free radicals, protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PROTOX), glutamine synthetase (GS) and 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD). PROTOX, HPPD and GS inhibitors have been shown to inhibit these enzymes in both plants and mammals and there are measurable effects in mammalian systems. However, the consequences of inhibiting a common target site in plants can be quite different than in animals. What may be a lethal event in plants, eg inhibition of HPPD, can have a beneficial effect in mammals, eg treatment for tyrosinemia type I. These chemicals also have low mammalian toxicity due to rapid metabolism and/or excretion of the herbicide from mammalian systems. Published in 2003 for SCI by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: toxicology; mechanism of action; site of action; disease; tyrosinemia; porphyria

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ps.782

Affiliations: 1: USDA-ARS Water Management Unit, AERC Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA

Publication date: 2004-01-01

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