Abstract
BackgroundMycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites commonly present in feed and food, and are widely regarded as hazardous contaminants. Citrinin, one of the very well known mycotoxins that was first isolated from Penicillium citrinum, is produced by more than 10 kinds of fungi, and is possibly spread all over the world. However, the information on the action mechanism of the toxin is limited. Thus, we investigated the citrinin-induced genomic response for evaluating its toxicity.ResultsCitrinin inhibited growth of yeast cells at a concentration higher than 100 ppm. We monitored the citrinin-induced mRNA expression profiles in yeast using the ORF DNA microarray and Oligo DNA microarray, and the expression profiles were compared with those of the other stress-inducing agents. Results obtained from both microarray experiments clustered together, but were different from those of the mycotoxin patulin. The oxidative stress response genes – AADs, FLR1, OYE3, GRE2, and MET17 – were significantly induced. In the functional category, expression of genes involved in "metabolism", "cell rescue, defense and virulence", and "energy" were significantly activated. In the category of "metabolism", genes involved in the glutathione synthesis pathway were activated, and in the category of "cell rescue, defense and virulence", the ABC transporter genes were induced. To alleviate the induced stress, these cells might pump out the citrinin after modification with glutathione. While, the citrinin treatment did not induce the genes involved in the DNA repair.ConclusionResults from both microarray studies suggest that citrinin treatment induced oxidative stress in yeast cells. The genotoxicity was less severe than the patulin, suggesting that citrinin is less toxic than patulin. The reproducibility of the expression profiles was much better with the Oligo DNA microarray. However, the Oligo DNA microarray did not completely overcome cross hybridization.
Highlights
Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites commonly present in feed and food, and are widely regarded as hazardous contaminants
We studied the toxicity of citrinin to yeast cells using the traditional open reading frame (ORF) (Open Reading Frame) DNA microarray [6] and Oligo (Oligo-nucleotide) DNA microarray systems [9]
Conditions for the citrinin treatment As a first step, we characterized the effect of citrinin on yeast growth because without any biological or physiological characterization we will not be able to prove that the induction or repression of specific genes is due to the treatment
Summary
Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites commonly present in feed and food, and are widely regarded as hazardous contaminants. One of the very well known mycotoxins that was first isolated from Penicillium citrinum, is produced by more than 10 kinds of fungi, and is possibly spread all over the world. Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites commonly present in the feed and food, and are widely considered as hazardous contaminants. Citrinin [518-75-2], 4,6-dihydro-8-hydroxy-3,4,5-trimethyl-6-oxo-3H-2-benzopyran-7-crboxylic acid (Figure 1), which was first isolated from Penicillium citrinum [1], is produced by more than 10 kinds of fungi [1]. Citrinin is the one of the well-known mycotoxins, which is possibly spread all over the world. Citrinin is one of the well-characterized mycotoxins, information on its mechanism of toxic action is limited. The electron transport system of the kidney and liver mitochondria were considered as the target of the toxic action of citrinin [4]
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