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Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification

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A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Mycotoxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 29035

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Małgorzata Piotrowska

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Guest Editor

Institute of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Sciences, Lodz University of Technology, Wolczanska 171/173, 90-924 Lodz, Poland
Interests: food microbiology; filamentous fungi; mycotoxins; mycotoxins detoxification; food safety; biotechnological processes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a serious global problem, as it results in economic losses for food producers and animal breeders. From the consumer point of view, however, most important is the health risks associated with the consumption of contaminated food, resulting from the toxic effects of these fungal metabolites. The research of many scientific teams is establishing a strategy for protection against contamination and the toxic effects of mycotoxins. This includes pre-harvest strategies such as the use of appropriate agricultural treatments as well as post-harvest strategies including the improvement of storage conditions and the use of chemical, physical, or biological methods for detoxification. Recently, an increase in research connected with the biological detoxification of mycotoxins has been observed.

This Special Issue will focus on two aspects (i) mycotoxin toxicity and (ii) biological methods for their detoxification.

Submissions are welcome on the following topics:

Toxicity of mycotoxins to humans and animals including (i) the effect of individual and combined mycotoxins; (ii) exposure route; (iii) known and emerging mycotoxins;
Novel in vivo and in vitro assays of the toxicological effects of mycotoxins;
Innovative and advanced strategies to reduce toxins exposure in humans and animals;
Biological methods of detoxification, both directly in humans and animals as well as in raw materials, food, and feed products, including but not limited to the use of:
- Microorganisms, their metabolites or cell components;
- Plant, plant extract, essential oils;
- Enzymes for biodegradation mycotoxins;
- Natural binders;
- Food and feed additives.
Studies on mechanisms of biological detoxification.

We look forward to receiving your contributions for this Special Issue. Original research works and review papers containing the most current knowledge related to the subject of this Issue are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Małgorzata Piotrowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

mycotoxins
toxicity
human
animal
mycotoxicosis
detoxification
adsorption
microorganisms
plants
enzymes

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 5498 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Structure Elucidation and Toxicity Analysis of the Byproducts Formed after Biodegradation of Aflatoxins B1 and B2 Using Extracts of Mentha arvensis

by Tehmina Anjum, Wajiha Iram, Mazhar Iqbal, Mateen Abbas, Waheed Akram and Guihua Li

Toxins 2022, 14(1), 24; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/toxins14010024 - 01 Jan 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1815

Abstract

The aqueous extracts of leaves and shoots of Mentha arvensis were checked for their potential to biodegrade aflatoxin B1 and B2 (AFB1; 100 µg/L and AFB2; 50 µg/L) through in vitro assays. Overall, the results showed that leaf extract degrades aflatoxins more efficiently than the shoot extract. First, the pH, temperature and incubation time were optimized for maximum degradation by observing this activity at different temperatures between 25 and 60 °C, pH between 2 and 10 and incubation time from 3 to 72 h. In general, an increase in all these parameters significantly increased the percentage of biodegradation. In vitro trials on mature maize stock were performed under optimized conditions, i.e., pH 8, temperature 30 °C and an incubation period of 72 h. The leaf extract resulted in 75% and 80% biodegradation of AFB1 and AFB2, respectively. Whereas the shoot extract degraded both toxins up to 40–48%. The structural elucidation of degraded toxin products by LCMS/MS analysis showed seven degraded products of AFB1 and three of AFB2. MS/MS spectra showed that most of the products were formed by the loss of the methoxy group from the side chain of the benzene ring, the removal of the double bond in the terminal furan ring and the modification of the lactone group, indicating less toxicity compared to the parent compounds. The degraded products showed low toxicity against brine shrimps, confirming that M. arvensis leaf extract has significant potential to biodegrade aflatoxins. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification)

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15 pages, 2281 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biological Transformation of Zearalenone by Some Bacterial Isolates Associated with Ruminant and Food Samples

by Sharif Zada, Sadia Alam, Samha Al Ayoubi, Qismat Shakeela, Sobia Nisa, Zeeshan Niaz, Ibrar Khan, Waqas Ahmed, Yamin Bibi, Shehzad Ahmed and Abdul Qayyum

Toxins 2021, 13(10), 712; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/toxins13100712 - 09 Oct 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2210

Abstract

Zearalenone (ZEA) is a secondary metabolite produced by Fusarium spp., the filamentous fungi. Food and feed contamination with zearalenone has adverse effects on health and economy. ZEA degradation through microorganisms is providing a promising preventive measure. The current study includes isolation of 47 bacterial strains from 100 different food and rumen samples. Seventeen isolates showed maximum activity of ZEA reduction. A bacterial isolate, RS-5, reduced ZEA concentration up to 78.3% through ELISA analysis and 74.3% as determined through HPLC. Ten of the most efficient strains were further selected for comparison of their biodegradation activity in different conditions such as incubation period, and different growth media. The samples were analyzed after 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h of incubation. De Man Rogosa Sharp (MRS) broth, Tryptic soy broth, and nutrient broth were used as different carbon sources for comparison of activity through ELISA. The mean degradation % ± SD through ELISA and HPLC were 70.77% ± 3.935 and 69.11% ± 2.768, respectively. Optimum reducing activity was detected at 72 h of incubation, and MRS broth is a suitable medium. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene nucleotide sequences confirmed that one of the bacterial isolate RS-5 bacterial isolates with higher mycotoxin degradation is identified as Bacillus subtilis isolated from rumen sample. B05 (FSL-8) bacterial isolate of yogurt belongs to the genus Lactobacillus with 99.66% similarity with Lactobacillus delbrukii. Similarly, three other bacterial isolates, D05, H05 and F04 (FS-17, FSL-2 and FS-20), were found to be the sub-species/strains Pseudomonas gessardii of genus Pseudomonas based on their similarity level of (99.2%, 96% and 96.88%) and positioning in the phylogenetic tree. Promising detoxification results were revealed through GC-MS analysis of RS-5 and FSL-8 activity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification)

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17 pages, 3484 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microbial Reduction of Fumonisin B1 by the New Isolate Serratia marcescens 329-2

by Pisut Keawmanee, Chainarong Rattanakreetakul and Ratiya Pongpisutta

Toxins 2021, 13(9), 638; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/toxins13090638 - 10 Sep 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3718

Abstract

The mycotoxin fumonisin (FB) has become a major problem in maize products in southeastern Asia. Fumonisin can affect the health of humans and many animals. Fumonisin contamination can be reduced by detoxifying microbial enzyme. Screening of 95 potent natural sources resulted in 5.3% of samples yielding a total of five bacterial isolates that were a promising solution, reducing approximately 10.0–30.0% of fumonisin B1 (FB1). Serratia marcescens, one of the dominant degrading bacteria, was identified with Gram staining, 16S rRNA gene, and MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Cell-free extract showed the highest fumonisin reduction rates, 30.3% in solution and 37.0% in maize. Crude proteins from bacterial cells were analyzed with a label-free quantification technique. The results showed that hydrolase enzymes and transferase enzymes that can cooperate in the fumonisin degradation process were highly expressed in comparison to their levels in a control. These studies have shown that S. marcescens 329-2 is a new potential bacterium for FB1 reduction, and the production of FB1-reducing enzymes should be further explored. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification)

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19 pages, 4911 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Degradation and Detoxification of Aflatoxin B1 by Tea-Derived Aspergillus niger RAF106

by Qian’an Fang, Minru Du, Jianwen Chen, Tong Liu, Yong Zheng, Zhenlin Liao, Qingping Zhong, Li Wang, Xiang Fang and Jie Wang

Toxins 2020, 12(12), 777; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/toxins12120777 - 06 Dec 2020

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 7585

Abstract

Microbial degradation is an effective and attractive method for eliminating aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), which is severely toxic to humans and animals. In this study, Aspergillus niger RAF106 could effectively degrade AFB1 when cultivated in Sabouraud dextrose broth (SDB) with contents of AFB1 ranging from 0.1 to 4 μg/mL. Treatment with yeast extract as a nitrogen source stimulated the degradation, but treatment with NaNO₃ and NaNO₂ as nitrogen sources and lactose and sucrose as carbon sources suppressed the degradation. Moreover, A. niger RAF106 still degraded AFB1 at initial pH values that ranged from 4 to 10 and at cultivation temperatures that ranged from 25 to 45 °C. In addition, intracellular enzymes or proteins with excellent thermotolerance were verified as being able to degrade AFB1 into metabolites with low or no mutagenicity. Furthermore, genomic sequence analysis indicated that the fungus was considered to be safe owing to the absence of virulence genes and the gene clusters for the synthesis of mycotoxins. These results indicate that A. niger RAF106 and its intracellular enzymes or proteins have a promising potential to be applied commercially in the processing and industry of food and feed to detoxify AFB1. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification)

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Review

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17 pages, 524 KiB

Open AccessReview

Alimentary Risk of Mycotoxins for Humans and Animals

by Jagoda Kępińska-Pacelik and Wioletta Biel

Toxins 2021, 13(11), 822; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/toxins13110822 - 21 Nov 2021

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 8313

Abstract

Mycotoxins can be found in many foods consumed by humans and animals. These substances are secondary metabolites of some fungi species and are resistant to technological processes (cooking, frying, baking, distillation, fermentation). They most often contaminate products of animal (beef, pork, poultry, lamb, fish, game meat, milk) and plant origin (cereals, processed cereals, vegetables, nuts). It is estimated that about 25% of the world’s harvest may be contaminated with mycotoxins. These substances damage crops and may cause mycotoxicosis. Many mycotoxins can be present in food, together with mold fungi, increasing the exposure of humans and animals to them. In this review we characterized the health risks caused by mycotoxins found in food, pet food and feed. The most important groups of mycotoxins are presented in terms of their toxicity and occurrence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification)

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19 pages, 2367 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Microbiological Decontamination of Mycotoxins: Opportunities and Limitations

by Małgorzata Piotrowska

Toxins 2021, 13(11), 819; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/toxins13110819 - 19 Nov 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 4476

Abstract

The contamination of food and feeds with mycotoxins poses a global health risk to humans and animals, with major economic consequences. Good agricultural and manufacturing practices can help control mycotoxin contamination. Since these actions are not always effective, several methods of decontamination have also been developed, including physical, chemical, and biological methods. Biological decontamination using microorganisms has revealed new opportunities. However, these biological methods require legal regulations and more research before they can be used in food production. Currently, only selected biological methods are acceptable for the decontamination of feed. This review discusses the literature on the use of microorganisms to remove mycotoxins and presents their possible mechanisms of action. Special attention is given to Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and lactic acid bacteria, and the use of yeast cell wall derivatives. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins: Toxicity and Biological Detoxification)

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