Abstract
While aflatoxin metabolism in animals has been clarified, very limited information is so far available on the possible biotransformation occurring in plants. Therefore, this work aimed at investigating whether AFB1 metabolites could occur in field-grown infected maize and the putative role of Zea mays L. metabolism in their production. For such scope, asymptomatic in vitro–grown plantlets and in silico evaluations of plant transforming enzymes were used to pinpoint how plants may handle these compounds. Our data demonstrated the role of maize plants in the production of Phase I hydroxylated aflatoxins, including, among others, AFM1, AFM2, and aflatoxicol, and suggest that plant cytochromes may be involved in this biotransformation of AFB1.
Highlights
Aflatoxins, on a worldwide scale, are the most well-known and studied mycotoxins in food and feed and must be regarded as a major food safety and food security threat (Hussein and Brasel, 2001; Marin et al, 2013; Kumar et al, 2017)
These samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography (LC)-highresolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) for the possible co-occurrence of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, and the main hydroxylated forms AFM1, AFM2, and AFL
AFM2 concentration was comparable to AFB2 and ranging between 1.7 and 5.8% compared to AFB1
Summary
Aflatoxins, on a worldwide scale, are the most well-known and studied mycotoxins in food and feed and must be regarded as a major food safety and food security threat (Hussein and Brasel, 2001; Marin et al, 2013; Kumar et al, 2017). Aflatoxin contamination may have an impact on food commodities, mainly grains, causing relevant economic losses and representing a serious concern for human and animal health. Aflatoxinproducing fungi, mainly Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, are found in areas with a warm, humid climate and may infect crops at both preharvest and postharvest stage. Climate change is strongly related with an increasing trend of aflatoxin occurrence in crops, mainly maize, as reported by Battilani et al (2016). Besides the four main aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2), aflatoxinogenic fungi may produce other structurally related substances such as versicolorin, and sterigmatocystin. Hydroxylated metabolites, among them the most relevant AFM1 or the aflatoxicol (AFL), are known to be formed in animals, accumulated in tissues and fluids, or transferred to milk as a consequence of liver Phase I biotransformation (Flores-Flores et al, 2015; Braun et al, 2020)
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