Aflatoxins and melanins are the products of a polyketide biosynthesis. In this study, the search of potential inhibitors of the aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) biosynthesis was performed among compounds blocking the pigmentation in fungi. Four compounds—three natural (thymol, 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde, compactin) and one synthetic (fluconazole)—were examined for their ability to block the pigmentation and AFB1 production in Aspergillus flavus. All compounds inhibited the mycelium pigmentation of a fungus growing on solid medium. At the same time, thymol, fluconazole, and 3-hydroxybenzaldehyde stimulated AFB1 accumulation in culture broth of A. flavus under submerged fermentation, whereas the addition of 2.5 μg/mL of compactin resulted in a 50× reduction in AFB1 production. Moreover, compactin also suppressed the sporulation of A. flavus on solid medium. In vivo treatment of corn and wheat grain with compactin (50 μg/g of grain) reduced the level of AFB1 accumulation 14 and 15 times, respectively. Further prospects of the compactin study as potential AFB1 inhibitor are discussed.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy in industrialized countries. Despite the advances in diagnostics and development of new drugs, the 5‐year survival remains only 60–65%. Our approach to early diagnostics of CRC is based on the determination of serological signatures with an array of hemispherical hydrogel cells containing immobilized proteins and oligosaccharides (glycochip). The compounds immobilized on the glycochip include tumor‐associated glycans (SiaTn, Tn, TF, LeC, LeY, SiaLeA, and Manβ1‐4GlcNAcβ) and antibodies against human immunoglobulins IgG, IgA, and IgM. The glycochip detects antibodies against tumor‐associated glycans in patients’ sera. The simultaneous measurement of the levels of immunoglobulins enhances the diagnostic impact of the signatures. In this work, we found previously unreported increase in antibodies against oligosaccharide Manβ1‐4GlcNAcβ in patients with CRC. In parallel with these experiments, we determined the levels of oncomarkers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cancer antigen (CA) 19–9, CA 125, CA 15–3, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), and alpha‐fetoprotein (AFP) using another gel‐based biochip with immobilized antibodies (oncochip) developed earlier in our laboratory. In total, 69 samples from healthy donors, 33 from patients with colorectal carcinoma, and 27 from patients with inflammatory bowel diseases were studied. The use of combined signatures of antiglycan antibodies and oncomarkers provides much better predictive value than the conventional measurement of oncomarkers CEA and CA 19–9. Positive predictive value of CRC diagnoses using together glycochip and oncochip reached 95% with the sensitivity and specificity 88% and 98%, respectively. Thus, the combination of antibody profiling with detection of conventional oncomarkers proved to be a promising tool in diagnostics of CRC.

A b s t r a c tThe control of the mycotoxin contamination of agricultural products represents a serious problem of the global food and feed industry. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most dangerous mycotoxins due to its hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and temperature resistance. Thus, the search for substances able to block its biosynthesis and, therefore, to prevent the toxin accumulation in food and feed is still relevant. This paper is devoted to the study of the ability of some natural and synthesized compounds to block the biosynthesis of AFB1 and/or melanin (both are secondary metabolites, which have common intermediates and common initial stages of the polyketide biosynthetic pathway) in toxigenic Aspergillus flavus. The studied compounds included lovastatin, and several commercial compounds: (aminoethyl)thiophosphonic acid, (aminomethyl)thiophosphonic acid, alafosfalin, (1-aminoethyl)phosphonic acid, and N-hydroxyputrescine. A mutant Aspergillus terreus strain 45-50 obtained earlier from the A. terreus ATCC 20542 was used as the lovastatin producer. N-hydroxyputrescine and some phosphoanalogues of amino acids were assessed by their influence on the pigmentation of fungal colonies grown on solid medium and on the specific AFB1 content in cultural broth determined after the cultivation of a fungus on liquid nutrition medium. According to the obtained results, the studied compounds were divided into three groups. To reveal changes in the colony morphology, toxigenic A. flavus strain AF11 was cultivated on agarized medium. Concentrations of tested compounds in the medium varied from 0.0001 to 0.1 % depending on their activity. To determine the effect of tested compounds on the AFB1 production, AF11 was cultivated for 170 h in a liquid Payne-Hagler medium. Solutions of the tested compounds were added to the medium up to the final concentration of 0.001-0.1 % (commercial compounds) or 0.0001 to 0.001 % (lovastatin). The efficiency of the AFB1 biosynthesis stimulation/inhibition was assessed by the comparison of its content in the cultural broth in the experimental and control (medium without additions) variants. In addition, the effect of lovastatin on the AFB1 accumulation in wheat grain contaminated with A. flavus AF11 was assessed. The performed screening allowed us to divide the studied compounds into three groups. The supplement of the nutrition medium with (aminoethyl)thiophosphonic acid, (aminomethyl)thiophosphonic acid, and alafosfalin caused a significant decrease in the AFB1 production, but did not influenced on the colony pigmentation. N-hydroxyputrescine and (1-aminoethyl)phosphonic acid were able to partially or completely block the melanin biosynthesis with the simultaneous increase in the AFB1 production. Lovastatin completely blocked both AFB1 and melanin production even at low concentrations (0.0005 %). Therefore, compounds from the first and second groups inhibit the AFB1 or melanin biosynthesis, respectively, via the blocking of stages located after the point of divergence of the correspon...

Biological degradation of mycotoxins is a promising environmentally-friendly alternative to chemical and physical detoxification methods. To date, a lot of microorganisms able to degrade them have been described; however, the number of studies determining degradation mechanisms and irreversibility of transformation, identifying resulting metabolites, and evaluating in vivo efficiency and safety of such biodegradation is significantly lower. At the same time, these data are crucial for the evaluation of the potential of the practical application of such microorganisms as mycotoxin-decontaminating agents or sources of mycotoxin-degrading enzymes. To date, there are no published reviews, which would be focused only on mycotoxin-degrading microorganisms with the proved irreversible transformation of these compounds into less toxic compounds. In this review, the existing information about microorganisms able to efficiently transform the three most common fusariotoxins (zearalenone, deoxinyvalenol, and fumonisin B1) is presented with allowance for the data on the corresponding irreversible transformation pathways, produced metabolites, and/or toxicity reduction. The recent data on the enzymes responsible for the irreversible transformation of these fusariotoxins are also presented, and the promising future trends in the studies in this area are discussed.

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