ArticlePLoS biology2021
Glyphosate inhibits melanization and increases susceptibility to infection in insects.
Article in PLoS biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 78 citations in OpenAlex.
- Fitness related effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and glyphosate exposure on Cardiocondyla obscurior.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2026Article
- Direct and Indirect Effects of a Glyphosate-Based Herbicide on Spodoptera frugiperda Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus (Insects · 2026Article
- Dietary L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) augments cuticular melanization in Anopheles mosquitos reducing their lifespan and malaria burden.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Toxicological concerns regarding glyphosate, its formulations, and co-formulants as environmental pollutants: a review of published studies from 2010 to 2025.Archives of toxicology · 2025Review
- Chlorothalonil exposure impacts larval development and adult reproductive performance inRoyal Society open science · 2025Article
- Insect immunity in the Anthropocene.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Herbicidal interference: glyphosate drives both the ecology and evolution of plant-herbivore interactions.The New phytologist · 2025Article
- Glyphosate effects on growth and biofilm formation in bee gut symbionts and diverse associated bacteria.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Glyphosate: Hepatotoxicity, Nephrotoxicity, Hemotoxicity, Carcinogenicity, and Clinical Cases of Endocrine, Reproductive, Cardiovascular, and Pulmonary System Intoxication.ACS pharmacology & translational science · 2024Review
- A food color based colorimetric assay forbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Impact of Human Activities on Disease-Spreading Mosquitoes in Urban Areas.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2023Review
- Article
- The Present and Future of Insect Biodiversity Conservation in the Neotropics: Policy Gaps and Recommendations.Neotropical entomology · 2023Review
- The effects of glyphosate, pure or in herbicide formulation, on bumble bees and their gut microbial communities.The Science of the total environment · 2023Article
- Melanin: a unifying theory of disease as exemplified by Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Lewy body dementia.Frontiers in immunology · 2023Article
- Galleria mellonella immune melanization is fungicidal during infection.Communications biology · 2022Article
- Antimicrobial potential of a ponericin-like peptide isolated from Bombyx mori L. hemolymph in response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Neurotoxicity Assessment of Four Different Pesticides Using In Vitro Enzymatic Inhibition Assays.Toxics · 2022Article
- Glyphosate induces immune dysregulation in honey bees.Animal microbiome · 2022Article
- Inhibiting DHN- and DOPA-melanin biosynthesis pathway increased the therapeutic value of itraconazole in Madurella mycetomatis infected Galleria mellonella.Medical mycology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Melanin, a black-brown pigment found throughout all kingdoms of life, has diverse biological functions including UV protection, thermoregulation, oxidant scavenging, arthropod immunity, and microbial virulence. Given melanin's broad roles in the biosphere, particularly in insect immune defenses, it is important to understand how exposure to ubiquitous environmental contaminants affects melanization. Glyphosate-the most widely used herbicide globally-inhibits melanin production, which could have wide-ranging implications in the health of many organisms, including insects. Here, we demonstrate that glyphosate has deleterious effects on insect health in 2 evolutionary distant species, Galleria mellonella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and Anopheles gambiae (Diptera: Culicidae), suggesting a broad effect in insects. Glyphosate reduced survival of G. mellonella caterpillars following infection with the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans and decreased the size of melanized nodules formed in hemolymph, which normally help eliminate infection. Glyphosate also increased the burden of the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum in A. gambiae mosquitoes, altered uninfected mosquito survival, and perturbed the microbial composition of adult mosquito midguts. Our results show that glyphosate's mechanism of melanin inhibition involves antioxidant synergy and disruption of the reaction oxidation-reduction balance. Overall, these findings suggest that glyphosate's environmental accumulation could render insects more susceptible to microbial pathogens due to melanin inhibition, immune impairment, and perturbations in microbiota composition, potentially contributing to declines in insect populations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.