Abstract
Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds that are produced by microorganisms, which in addition to their surfactant capacity, can possess interesting antimicrobial activities that are used in their incorporation into the agrifood industry. In this work, the preservative capacity of a novel biosurfactant extract obtained from a residual stream of the corn-milling industry was evaluated against two different fungi (Aspergillus brasiliensis and Candida albicans) under different biosurfactant concentrations (0.33–0.99 mg/mL), temperatures (4–40 °C), and incubation times (5–11 days). All the assays started with the same concentration of fungi (2 × 106 CFU/mL). The results showed that temperature played an important role in the bactericidal and fungistatic effects of this biosurfactant extract. It was observed that at a low biosurfactant concentration (0.33 mg/mL) and low or high temperatures in the range tested, this biosurfactant extract possessed an important fungicidal effect (complete inhibition) on A. brasiliensis, while at intermediate temperatures, it achieved a fungistatic effect (50% of inhibition). Regarding C. albicans, it was observed that this strain was more resistant than A. brasiliens, although it was possible to achieve growth inhibitions of 76.3% at temperatures of 40 °C after 8 days of incubation with a biosurfactant concentration of 0.99 mg/mL. This work supports the possible application of biosurfactants extracted from corn steep water as preservatives and antimicrobial agents against fungal contaminations on agrifood products.
Highlights
It is estimated that microbial spoilage is responsible for the loss of almost 33% of the global annual food production [1], resulting in 1.3 billion tons of food waste worldwide [2]
The N, C, H, and S content showed that C was the element present in the highest proportion with 43.67%, while the contents of N, H, and S were 0.77%, 5.89%, and less than 0.30%, respectively, all of which are in the range of values of previous analysis performed on biosurfactants from corn steep water (CSW) [21]
The antimicrobial activity of the biosurfactant extracted with ethyl acetate from the CSW was determined by carrying out an incomplete Box-Behnken factorial design to assess the effect of different conditions to measure the growth inhibition percentages against two pathogenic fungal strains of A. brasiliensis and C. albicans
Summary
It is estimated that microbial spoilage is responsible for the loss of almost 33% of the global annual food production [1], resulting in 1.3 billion tons of food waste worldwide [2]. Some of these microbial contaminations are produced by pathogenic fungal strains, among which, some of the most common are Aspergillus and Candida spp. Some Aspergillus spp., including A. fumigatus, A. niger, or A. flavus, which can behave as opportunistic pathogens, are known to affect animal and human health They are responsible for causing food poisoning through the production of mycotoxins, as well as illnesses like aspergillosis, which is a pulmonary disease with symptoms of hemoptysis (coughing up blood) and chronic coughing [5,6].
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