Abstract
Trichothecenes are a family of major secondary metabolites produced by some common filamentous fungi, including plant pathogenic and entomopathogenic fungi. It may be considered difficult to conduct a comparison between the toxicities of trichothecenes with consideration of different conditions and cell lines. In the current study, we developed an in vitro assay based on a commercially available system to estimate the translation inhibition, that is, the main toxicity, of trichothecenes. The assay was applied to estimate the inhibition of protein synthesis by trichothecenes. Initially, we examined the assay using trichothecene dissolved in water followed by an assessment of trichothecene solutions dissolved in acetonitrile. The obtained data showed that the assay tolerated the small amount of acetonitrile. The assay examined in this study has the advantages of a short operation time (one day), ease of use, and data stability, as it is a non-cell-based assay whose components are commercially available. It is expected that this assay will contribute to the evaluation of the toxicity of a vast number of trichothecenes.
Highlights
Trichothecenes are a family of major secondary metabolites produced by some filamentous fungi, such as Fusarium, Myrothecium, Trichothecium, and Stachybotrys, and include more than 200 compounds, which have been classified into types A, B, C, and D
We examined the inhibition of the in vitro protein synthesis with three trichothecenes, namely, DON, T-2 toxin, and HT-2 toxin, as well as DOM-1 (Figure 3)
Trichothecenes are a large family of compounds, and, recently, masked trichothecenes, such as DON-3-glucoside, have been reported as new natural derivatives found in plants and cereal grains infected with plant pathogens, including Fusarium spp. [26,27,28]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Trichothecenes are a family of major secondary metabolites produced by some filamentous fungi, such as Fusarium, Myrothecium, Trichothecium, and Stachybotrys, and include more than 200 compounds, which have been classified into types A, B, C, and D. Their producers are various species, including plant pathogenic and entomopathogenic fungi [1,2,3]. In Asia, red mold intoxications have been recorded as human poisoning episodes [5,6], and DON has been confirmed as the major contaminant in wheat related to at least one outbreak [7] These toxins induce gastrointestinal disorders, including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea in humans and animals. We used an in vitro assay to estimate the translation inhibition, that is the main toxicity, of trichothecenes
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