Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecoenv Investigation of pesticide exposure by genotoxicological, biochemical, genetic polymorphic and in silico analysis Arielly F.B. de Oliveira a , Melissa Rosa de Souza a , Danieli Benedetti a , Amanda Souza Scotti a , Luma Smidt Piazza a , Ana Letícia Hilario Garcia a,b , Johnny Ferraz Dias c , Liana Appel Boufleur Niekraszewicz c , Anaí Duarte c , Dêiverti Bauer c , Livio Amaral c , Carmen Lucia Bassi Branco d , Érica de Melo Reis d , Fernanda Rabaioli da Silva e , Juliana da Silva a,* a Laboratory of Genetic Toxicology, PPGBioSaúde, Lutheran University of Brazil (ULBRA), Canoas, RS, Brazil b Laboratory of Ecotoxicology, Postgraduate Program in Environmental Quality, University Feevale, Novo Hamburgo, RS, Brazil c Ion Implantation Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil d Postgraduate in Health Science, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, MT, Brazil e La Salle University, Master's Degree in Environmental Impact Evaluation, Canoas, RS, Brazil ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Soybean farmers Genotoxicity Pesticides Human biomonitoring ABSTRACT Soybean farmers are exposed to various types of pesticides that contain in their formulations a combination of chemicals with genotoxic and mutagenic potential. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the genetic damages caused by this pesticide exposure to soybean producers in the state of Mato Grosso (Brazil), regarding biochemical, genetic polymorphic and in silico analyses. A total of 148 individuals were evaluated, 76 of which were occupationally exposed and 72 were not exposed at all. The buccal micronucleus cytome assay (BMCyt) detected in the exposed group an increase on DNA damage and cell death. No inhibition of butyr- ylcholinesterase (BchE) was observed within the exposed group. The detection of inorganic elements was made through the particle-induced X-ray emission technique (PIXE), which revealed higher concentrations of Bromine (Br), Rubidium (Rb) and Lead (Pb) in rural workers. A molecular model using in silico analysis suggests how metal ions can cause both DNA damage and apoptosis in the exposed cells. Analysis of the compared effect of X- ray Repair Cross-complement Protein 1 (XRCC1) and Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) genotypes in the groups demon- strated an increase of binucleated cells (exposed group) and nuclear bud (non-exposed group) in individuals with the XRCC1 Trip/- and PON1 Arg/- genes. There was no significant difference in the telomere (TL) mean value in the exposed group in contrast to the non-exposed group. Our results showed that soybean producers showed genotoxic effect and cell death, which may have been induced by exposure to complex mixtures of agrochemicals and fertilizers. In addition, XRCC1 Arg/Arg could, in some respects, provide protection to individuals. 1. Introduction Brazil is the second largest producer and exporter of soybeans in the world, and the Brazilian National Supply Company (CONAB) has esti- mated a productivity increase of 36.9% over the next ten years. Mato Grosso state is the largest Brazilian producer of this grain with a pro- ductivity of 3165 kg/ha reaching 27,868 million tons in 2014/2015 (EMBRAPA, 2016). However, with the increase of soybeans in the market there was a need to establish a phytosanitary control in order to avoid the propagation of pests and diseases among the plants and guarantee their productivity and commercial value, once the use of high quantity of pesticides is common (Benedetti et al., 2018). Soybean planting accounts for 45% of the total amount of pesticides sold in Brazil, Mato Grosso state being the largest consumer in the country. In 2015, a total of 899 million liters of pesticides spread in different types of crops were consumed in the country, soybeans accounting for 63% of the total consumption (Pignati et al., 2017). Pesticides are chemical, heterogeneous and biological active sub- stances that act in the control of insects, bacteria, fungi, worms, rodents and weeds. In addition, the active and inert substances used for their formulation generally have apolar characteristics, low selectivity and bioaccumulation capacity, contributing to make pesticides toxic to non- target species, such as humans (Bolognesi and Holland, 2016). The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that there are 3 million cases https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2019.04.023 Received 24 September 2018; Received in revised form 22 March 2019; Accepted 8 April 2019 * Corresponding author. Lutheran University of Brazil, ULBRA, 8001. Farroupilha Avenue, Building 22, 4th floor, Zip code: 92425-900, Canoas, RS, Brazil. E-mail address: julianadasilva@uol.com.br (J. da Silva). Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 179 (2019) 135–142 0147-6513/ © 2019 Published by Elsevier Inc. T