A new concern about surface water quality is the occurrence of emerging contaminants that have being recognized as a new class of water contaminants such as antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, personal care products and pharmaceutical products. The occurrence of these contaminants in the aquatic environment and especially in surface water is a serious concern because this is usually the source of water for drinking water treatment plants (DWTP). This review provides a summary of the occurrence and the analytical methodology (extraction process, chromatography analysis, detection systems and ionization source) of emerging contaminant analysis in surface waters including rivers, lakes, creeks and wetlands for their analysis.

The distribution of berberine and sanguinarine was analyzed in roots, stems and leaves of mature Argemone mexicana plants, along with that of transcripts corresponding to selected genes involved in both early biosynthetic reactions, which are common to both alkaloids, and in the late specific reactions conducting to the formation of each of them. Roots were the main sites of alkaloid accumulation, though they showed the lowest accumulation of the analyzed transcripts. Results are discussed in terms of the operation of a possible transport mechanism of alkaloids between the aerial tissues and the roots, or the occurrence of different biosynthetic alternative reactions in both parts, aerial and underground tissues, involving different gene products, yet with similar catalytic capacities.

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Results suggest partial involvement of OCDA pathway in this response.

Alkaloid contents in <em>Argemone mexicana</em> cell line AMMiF were analyzed during a 36-day culture cycle. The benzophenanthridine sanguinarine (SA) represented the main alkaloid. Dihydrosanguinarine (DHSA), a SA biosynthetic precursor and a less toxic benzophenanthridine, was also identified, based on chromatographic properties and further confirmed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Along the culture cycle, SA contents increased simultaneously while DHSA decrease, suggesting their biosynthetic conversion. Upon exposure to yeast extract as an inducer of secondary metabolism, there was an increase in SA content, which was preceded by DHS accumulation. However, after a long exposure (72 h), contents of both SA and DHSA were noticeable elevated, with close to 20% of the total alkaloid produced being recovered from the external medium. These results suggest the operation of a cell mechanism to avoid damage inflicted by the excessive accumulation of SA.