Institute for Biodiversity Network e.V. (ibn), Nußbergerstr. 6a, 93059, Regensburg, Germany.
Institute of Crop Science (340h), University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Feb;25(6):5298-5317. doi: 10.1007/s11356-017-1080-1. Epub 2018 Jan 2.
Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), consisting of glyphosate and formulants, are the most frequently applied herbicides worldwide. The declared active ingredient glyphosate does not only inhibit the EPSPS but is also a chelating agent that binds macro- and micronutrients, essential for many plant processes and pathogen resistance. GBH treatment may thus impede uptake and availability of macro- and micronutrients in plants. The present study investigated whether this characteristic of glyphosate could contribute to adverse effects of GBH application in the environment and to human health. According to the results, it has not been fully elucidated whether the chelating activity of glyphosate contributes to the toxic effects on plants and potentially on plant-microorganism interactions, e.g., nitrogen fixation of leguminous plants. It is also still open whether the chelating property of glyphosate is involved in the toxic effects on organisms other than plants, described in many papers. By changing the availability of essential as well as toxic metals that are bound to soil particles, the herbicide might also impact soil life, although the occurrence of natural chelators with considerably higher chelating potentials makes an additional impact of glyphosate for most metals less likely. Further research should elucidate the role of glyphosate (and GBH) as a chelator, in particular, as this is a non-specific property potentially affecting many organisms and processes. In the process of reevaluation of glyphosate its chelating activity has hardly been discussed.
草甘膦类除草剂（GBHs）由草甘膦和配方组成，是世界上应用最广泛的除草剂。已申报的活性成分草甘膦不仅抑制 EPSPS，而且还是一种螯合剂，可与植物许多过程和抗病原体所必需的大量和微量元素结合。因此，GBH 处理可能会阻碍植物对大量和微量元素的吸收和利用。本研究调查了草甘膦的这种特性是否有助于 GBH 在环境和人类健康中的应用产生不利影响。根据研究结果，草甘膦的螯合活性是否有助于对植物和潜在的植物-微生物相互作用（例如豆科植物的固氮）产生毒性作用，尚未完全阐明。草甘膦的螯合特性是否参与许多论文中描述的对植物以外的生物体的毒性作用，目前仍不清楚。通过改变与土壤颗粒结合的必需和有毒金属的可用性，除草剂也可能影响土壤生物，尽管存在具有相当高螯合潜力的天然螯合剂，使草甘膦对大多数金属的影响不太可能。进一步的研究应阐明草甘膦（和 GBH）作为螯合剂的作用，特别是因为这是一种非特异性特性，可能会影响许多生物体和过程。在对草甘膦进行重新评估的过程中，几乎没有讨论其螯合活性。
