FFoQSI 3.2.3. Toxin Inactivation

Within previous efforts to mitigate the mycotoxin issue in the feed industry, post-harvest toxin detoxification was demonstrated to be an effective tool. In this project, FFoQSI partners will exploit yet unresearched ways to unravel novel ways of mycotoxin degradation principles, by exploiting enzymes derived from insects containing symbiotic microorganisms, both yeast-like fungi and bacteria that colonize specialized structures in the insect gut and play a role in the detoxification of plant compounds with a function in insect defence.The working hypothesis is that trichothecene mycotoxins produced by plant pathogenic fungi are not accumulating in the environment (in soil or surface water), since they are degraded either by plant encoded enzymes or by enzymes from insects, which consume toxin-contaminated plant material or which live directly on fungal mycelium. Epoxide hydrolases – which do not require a cofactor – could serve as the ideal detoxification enzymes, especially with respect to decontamination of feed commodities. We plan to • study the inactivation of trichothecene mycotoxins by enzymes from plants, insects and insect symbionts.