Inhibition of Aspergillus growth and aflatoxin release by derivatives of benzoic acid

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the effects of o-nitrobenzoate, p-aminobenzoate, benzocaine (ethyl aminobenzoate), ethyl benzoate, methyl benzoate, salicylic acid (o-hydroxybenzoate), trans-cinnamic acid (,B-phenylacrylic acid), trans-cinnamaldehyde (3-phenylpropenal), ferulic acid (p-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid), aspirin (o-acetoxy benzoic acid), and anthranilic acid (o-aminobenzoic acid) upon growth and aflatoxin release in Aspergillus flavus NRRL 3145 and A. parasiticus NRRL 3240. A chemically defined medium was supplemented with various concentrations of these compounds and inoculated with spores, and the developing cultures were incubated for 4, 6, and 8 days at 27°C in a mechanical shaker. At the beginning of day 8 of incubation, aflatoxins were extracted from cell-free filtrates, separated by thin-layer chromatography, and quantitated by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The structure of these aromatic compounds appeared to be critically related to their effects on mycelial growth and aflatoxin release. At concentrations of 2.5 and 5.0 mg per 25 ml of medium, methyl benzoate and ethyl benzoate were the most effective in reducing both mycelial growth and aflatoxin release by A. flavus and A. parasiticus. Inhibition of mycelial growth and aflatoxin release by various concentrations of the above-named aromatic compounds may indicate the possibility of their use as fungicides. Aflatoxins, produced by certain strains of Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, have been well documented as producing significant pathological changes in plants and animals (6, 13). Recent evidence has indicated that aflatoxin may also be involved in the etiology of human liver cancer in certain parts of the world (17).

Inhibition of Aspergillus Growth and Extracellular Aflatoxin Accumulation by Sorbic Acid and Derivatives of Fatty Acids

“…Mycelial growth was separated from the liquid phase by filtering through Aflatoxins were then extracted from the filtrate and quantified according to a previously reported procedure (Chipley and Uraih 1980).…”

Control of Aspergillus growth and aflatoxin production using antioxidants at different conditions of water activity and pH

“…1977; Beuchat and Jones 1978; Ahmand 1979; Lin and Fung 1983). The ester of p ‐hydroxybenzoic acid (propyl paraben) has been reported to have strong fungicidal activity (Chipley and Uraih 1980). Studies by Thompson (1991, 1992) suggested that phenolic antioxidants could control conidial germination, growth and aflatoxin production by A. flavus and A. parasiticus .…”

The effect of hydroxycinnamic acids on the growth of wine‐spoilage lactic acid bacteria

“…As alternative preservatives, fumaric acid (Pilone et al 1974;Splittstoesser and Stoyla 1989), decanoic acid (Splittstoesser and Stoyla 1989), dimethyl dicarbonate (Porter and Ough 1982) and nisin (Splittstoesser and Stoyla 1989;Radler 1990;Daeschel et al 1991) all, to some degree, inhibit micro-organisms in beverages, but none is permitted for use in these products. On the other hand, the non-flavonoid fraction of grape juice and of wines is rich in derivatives of hydroxycinnamic acids (Ong and Nagel 1978a;Baranowski and Nagel 1981;Herrmann 1989) and some of the free acids have been found to be inhibitory to the growth of a variety of micro-organisms including yeasts (Schanderl 1962;Sikovec 1966a,b;Baranowski et al 1980), moulds (Chipley and Uraih 1980), Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus (Herald and Davidson 1983) and rumen micro-organisms (Chesson et al 1982), but to have little effect on Pseudomonas Juorescens (Baranowski and Nagel 1982) and none on Ltsterra monocytogenes (Payne el al. 1989).…”