System biology analysis of endosulfan biodegradation in bacteria and its effect in other living systems: modeling and simulation studies

Abstract

Endosulfan is a broadly applied cyclodiene insecticide which has been in use across 80 countries since last 5 decades. Owing to its recalcitrant nature, endosulfan residues have been reported from air, water and soil causing toxicity to various non-target organisms. Microbial decontamination of endosulfan has been reported previously by several authors. In the current study, we have evaluated the pathways of endosulfan degradation and its hazardous impact on other living beings including insects, humans, plants, aquatic life and environment by in-silico methods. For establishment of the endosulfan metabolism in different ecosystems, cell designer was employed. The established model was thereafter assessed and simulated to understand the biochemical and physiological metabolism of the endosulfan in various systems of the network. Topological investigation analysis of the endosulfan metabolism validated the presence of 207 nodes and 274 edges in the network. We have concluded that biomagnification of the endosulfan generally occurs in the various elements of the ecosystem. Dynamics study of endosulfan degrading enzymes suggested the important role of monooxygenase I, II and hydrolase in endosulfan bioremediation. Endosulfan shows toxicity in human beings, fishes and plants, however it is biodegraded by the microbes. To date, there are no reports of in- silico analysis of bioremediation of endosulfan and its hazardous effects on the environment. Thus, this report can be important in terms of modelling and simulation of biodegradation network of endosulfan and similar compounds and their impact on several other systems.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Keywords:

• Endosulfan
• system biology
• toxicity
• bioremediation
• environment

Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Saradar Bhagwan Singh University Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India and South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China, for providing the necessary facilities to conduct this research work. We acknowledge the grants from the Key Realm R&D Program of Guangdong Province (2018B020206001, 2020B020209000), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2021A1515010889), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M672655), and Guangdong Special Support Program (2017TQ04N026).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author’s contribution

GB, PB and SC conceived the idea, GB written the first draft of manuscript. PB, GB, SC, MS, SN and SG edited and revised the manuscript.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.