From Fields to Cells: Biological Consequences of Pesticides Exposure

Pesticides use is fundamental to modern agriculture, shaping landscapes, and ensuring food security worldwide. However, persistent and widespread application of these chemicals raises urgent questions about their unintended biological impacts beyond target plants. Recent environmental monitoring reveals that herbicide residues are increasingly found throughout various ecosystems, in soils, waterways, foods, and living organisms, leading to chronic exposure scenarios for wildlife and humans alike. Existing regulatory approaches, while robust in many respects, are now being challenged as evidence accumulates that low-dose and mixture of exposures, as well as long-term effects, may not be sufficiently addressed. Notably, there is ongoing debate about the adequacy of conventional risk assessment frameworks in capturing the full scope of pesticide-induced toxicity, particularly under complex, real-world conditions. Advancements in toxicological research are rapidly deepening our understanding of how pesticides affect biology at multiple levels. Cutting-edge studies now implicate these compounds in pathways involving oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, endocrine disruption, immune modulation, metabolic disturbances, and epigenetic changes even at low or chronic exposure levels. Notably, many of these mechanisms are observed in both laboratory settings and in wild or non-target organisms, leading to observable alterations in development, reproduction, behavior, and even population viability. Such findings highlight the pressing need for integrated approaches that transcend traditional safety paradigms, linking molecular changes with organismal and ecological outcomes. Despite this progress, substantial gaps remain in mechanistically connecting environmental exposure data to cellular responses and real-world biological impacts. This Research Topic aims to build a cohesive understanding of the biological consequences of pesticide exposure by bridging environmental, mechanistic, and ecological perspectives. By uniting research on molecular pathways, biomarker identification, and organismal vulnerabilities, this Topic will clarify the mechanisms underlying herbicide toxicity and identify susceptible populations and ecosystems. Ultimately, these efforts seek to support more comprehensive risk assessments and evidence-based environmental policy by fostering translational research that aligns laboratory findings with field realities. To gather further insights in the integrative study of pesticides exposure and its biological consequences, we welcome articles addressing—but not limited to—the following themes: - Molecular and cellular mechanisms of pesticide-induced toxicity - Biomarkers for exposure, effect, and susceptibility in various organisms - Effects of chronic, low-dose, or mixed herbicide exposures - Disruptions to endocrine, metabolic, oxidative, and epigenetic systems - Impacts on non-target organisms, including wildlife and soil microbiota - Use and innovation in in vitro, in vivo, and alternative toxicological models - Translation of environmental monitoring and exposure data to biological outcomes Article types invited include Original Research, Reviews, Perspectives, and Methods papers. Studies focusing solely on herbicide efficacy, agronomic performance, or crop yields are outside the scope. Research integrating terrestrial and aquatic systems, as well as those connecting human with environmental health, is especially encouraged. Topic editors: Guilherme Ribeiro Romualdo, Laura Kass Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/78295/from-fields-to-cells-biological-consequences-of-pesticides-exposure