Molecular toxicity study on glyphosate, MON 52276 and mixture of pesticides administered with drinking water ad libitum, to adult female sprague-dawley rats, for 90 days

There is intense debate as to whether glyphosate can interfere with aromatic amino acid biosynthesis in microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract, which could potentially lead to negative health outcomes. We have addressed this major gap in glyphosate toxicology by using a multi-omics strategy combining shotgun metagenomics and metabolomics. We tested whether glyphosate (0.5, 50, 175 mg/kg bw/day), or its representative EU commercial herbicide formulation MON 52276 at the same glyphosate equivalent doses, has an effect on the rat gut microbiome in a 90-day subchronic toxicity test. We also tested a mixture of six pesticide active ingredients frequently detected in EU food (azoxystrobin, boscalid, chlorpyrifos, glyphosate, imidacloprid and thiabendazole) at their regulatory permitted acceptable daily intake