Strobilurin fungicides are a leading class of antifungal chemicals used today in agricultural applications. Although degradation of some strobilurin fungicides has been assessed in plant residues, little information has appeared in the literature concerning the metabolic rates of these fungicides in plants. In this study, we explored plant metabolism of three strobilurin fungicides, azoxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl, and trifloxystrobin, using wheat cell suspension cultures. Trifloxystrobin and kresoxim-methyl were completely metabolized within 24 hr while the metabolism of azoxystrobin was relatively slow with half-lives up to 48 hr depending on specific experimental conditions. Metabolic rates of these fungicides were affected by the amounts of compound and cells added to the media. Preliminary LC-MS analyses of culture extracts suggested that trifloxystrobin was first demethylated followed by subsequent hydroxylation, while kresoxim-methyl was largely demethylated. The structural identifications of these metabolites are under investigation.

Metabolism of strobilurins by wheat cell suspension cultures

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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