Deciphering early molecular responses to benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers-induced toxicity using a dose-dependent yeast functional genomics approach

Abstract

Benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers (BUVSs), widely used as anti-photoaging additives in industrial products, are increasingly detected in diverse environmental matrices and organisms. However, their toxicological profiles and mechanistic differences among structural analogues remain poorly characterized. In this study, we employed a dose-dependent yeast functional genomics approach to systematically map the biological pathways perturbed by 11 environmentally prevalent BUVSs at environmentally relevant concentrations. Our results revealed that the biological potency of BUVSs at gene level, determined by 20th percentile point of departure (POD) values from dose-response genes (DRGs) analysis (POD_DRG20), spanned ranges from 0.0334 to 1.21 nM, with UV-360 exhibited the highest potency and UV-531 the lowest. Notably, both chemical structural complexity and logK_ow positively correlated with enhanced biological potency. The most sensitive biological pathways targeted by BUVSs were cell cycle and DNA replication. Crucially, early-stage molecular responses to BUVSs were evolutionarily conserved between yeast and human cell lines, as evidenced by cell cycle arrest in G1 phase (increasing from 57.23 % to 65.97 %) and suppression of S phase (decreasing from 19.80 % to 12.62 %), along with a marked reduction in DNA replication activity. This study establishes a high-throughput framework for precise BUVSs toxicity prioritization and uncovers previously unrecognized mechanisms driving their molecular toxicity, providing critical data to guide the design of environmentally friendly alternatives.

Keywords: Benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers; Cell cycle; DNA replication; Early molecular response; Point of departure.