Selection of Bacillus spp. with decontamination potential on multiple Fusarium mycotoxins

Abstract

Along with Aspergillus and Penicillium spp., mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species are important contaminants in food and feed industry. This study was designed to investigate the biodegradation potential of a collection of Bacillus spp. in different substrates artificially contaminated with single or multiple Fusarium mycotoxins. B. megaterium BM344-1 and B. pumilus BP344-3 showed the highest degradation (100%) of zearalenone (ZEN) on liquid Luria Bertani (LB) medium. Bacillus cereus BC344-2, Bacillus cereus BC399-2, Bacillus simplex BS350-3 and Paenibacillus favisporus PF341, showed significant biodegrading capacity on T-2 toxin, leading to 72, 70, 71 and 88% decontamination, respectively. Complete degradation (100%) of ZEN was observed at a contamination level of 0.375 μg/ml in LB, while showing a decreasing trend of degradation (87 and 84%) at increasing levels of mycotoxins (0.750 and 1.50 μg/ml LB medium, respectively). Likewise, BM344-1 showed a decreasing degradation trend (81, 78% and 55%) at increasing T-2 contamination levels (0.3, 0.6 and 1.2 μg/ml, respectively). The ability of BM344-1 to degrade fumonisin B1 (FB1) and fumonisin B2 (FB2) was 14 and 12%, respectively. In LB medium concurrently contaminated with multiple mycotoxins (ZEN+T-2+HT-2+FB1+FB2), the degradation ability of BM344-1 was not affected by low-to-medium levels of each mycotoxin, while it was significantly lowered upon addition of each toxin at higher levels. In vivo mycotoxin degradation potential of BM344-1 tested on artificially contaminated maize showed 25-44% reduction of ZEN and 15-19% reduction of T-2, with a non-significant effect in case of combined mycotoxins contamination. B. megaterium BM344-1, having significant biodegrading properties on multiple Fusarium mycotoxins, can be considered for its potential application as a mycotoxin decontamination agent in the food industry.