To Stress or Not To Stress: Pesticides and Cellular Stress Response

Pesticides are ubiquitous in the environment and are found in human tissues. Using fluorescence microscopy, we examined the effects of the pesticides N-phosphonomethyl glycine (glyphosate) and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) on formation of stress granules (SGs), cytoplasmic aggregates of silenced mRNPs formed under stress conditions. 2,4-D caused dose-dependent formation of SGs from 1 to 4 mM, while glyphosate caused no SG formation. Our work suggests some pesticides may affect cellular stress responses, and that further research is warranted