Abstract
Fungal contamination presents several problems: in humans, health issues arise from infections with opportunistic filamentous fungi and yeast, while in food, fungi cause spoilage and, in particular, in the case of mycotoxigenic fungi, can cause serious health issues. Several types of fatty acids and their derivatives, oxylipins, have been found to have inhibitory effect towards fungal growth and the production of mycotoxins. The use of fatty acids as antifungals could fulfil consumer’s requests of more natural and environmentally friendly compounds, while being less likely to promote fungal resistance. In addition, due to their nature, fatty acids are easily used as food additives. In this work, we review the most relevant and recent studies on the antifungal ability of fatty acids. We focused on saturated fatty acids, unsaturated fatty acids, and oxylipins, their different impact on fungal inhibition, their proposed modes of action, and their ability to impair mycotoxin production. Applications of fatty acids as antifungals and their limitations are also addressed.
Highlights
Fatty acids are the main components of lipids
The use of fatty acids and their derivatives as antifungals could be a solution for some fungal contaminations, either applied directly or in a perspective of biopreservation when produced by beneficial microorganisms, such as lactic acid bacteria
Walter and co-works [66] studied the antifungal ability of four unsaturated fatty acids against plant pathogenic fungi, and verified that linolenic and linoleic acids at a concentration of 1000 μM reduced the mycelial growth of the all the fungi in study (Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, Pyrenophora avenae, and C. perniciosa), with linoleic and linolenic acid reaching inhibitions greater than 55%
Summary
Fatty acids are the main components of lipids. They are mainly found in the form of triacylglycerols, where three fatty acids are attached to a glycerol molecule. PUFAs are classified as omega 6 (n-6) and omega 3 (n-3), when their first double bound is between the 6th and 7th carbon atoms or between the 3rd and 4th carbon atoms, respectively, when counting from the methyl group Most of these molecules are formed by a straight carbon chain, since they are synthetized from two-carbon units, the chain length can extend from 2 to 80 carbon atoms, even though most common fatty acids have 12 to 22 carbon atoms. Trans fatty acids, especially those produced by partial hydrogenation, are reported to have numerous adverse health effects including cardiovascular disease, inflammation, oxidative stress, increase in LDL cholesterol, increase in body weight, insulin sensitivity, and cancer; without providing nutritional benefits [6]. We include examples of antifungal fatty acids for clinic uses
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