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Toxins
Special Issues
Detection and Prevention Technologies for Toxins
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Detection and Prevention Technologies for Toxins

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 8983

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Candace Bever

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Western Regional Research Center, Foodborne Toxin Detection and Prevention Research Unit, USDA, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, CA, 94710 USA
Prof. Dr. Qi Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430062, China
Interests: 1. Development of specific antibody and immunoassay; 2. Detection, molecular warning, and prevention of mycotoxin in agri-food.
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

To ensure public safety, there is a constant need to develop and improve technologies for the detection of toxins and the prevention of toxin production. Toxins are produced by a variety of entities (plant, animal, bacterial, fungal, etc.) and exposure to the public is often through ingestion. Ingestion of toxins can be from natural sources (such as, fungal or plant) or from biological growth due to improper processing (such as canning, storage conditions, or preparation), handling, and spoilage.

This special issue highlights technologies for the detection of toxins in food, biological specimens, and environmental samples. Applications of developed technologies in relevant matrices are encouraged but not required. In addition, this issue focuses on technologies that might mitigate, remove, or inactivate toxins such that exposure can be reduced or prevented. As such, technologies that target the toxin-producing pathogen are appropriate. The technological platforms can include but are not limited to conventional chromatographic tools, cell culture, immunoanalytical methods, biosensors, nanotechnology, as well as cutting-edge molecular approaches to detect the pathogen that produces the toxin. Prevention strategies can include but are not limited to therapeutic biologics, inhibitors of a specific pathway, or sample treatment options. In general, this special issue is meant to encapsulate any conceivable technology for the detection and prevention of toxins.

Dr. Candace Bever
Prof. Dr. Qi Zhang 
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Analytical
  • Bioanalytical
  • Immunoassay
  • Cell-based assay
  • Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry
  • Biosensors
  • Biocontrol measures
  • Toxin inactivation
  • Natural toxins

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1769 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Citrinin in Spices and Infant Cereals Using Immunoaffinity Column Clean-Up with HPLC-Fluorescence Detection
by Christopher Mair, Michael Norris, Carol Donnelly, Dave Leeman, Phyllis Brown, Elaine Marley, Claire Milligan and Naomi Mackay
Toxins 2021, 13(10), 715; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13100715 - 10 Oct 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2326
Abstract
Historically, the analysis of citrinin has mainly been performed on cereals such as red yeast rice; however, in recent years, more complex and abnormal commodities such as spices and infant foods are becoming more widely assessed. The aim of this study was to [...] Read more.
Historically, the analysis of citrinin has mainly been performed on cereals such as red yeast rice; however, in recent years, more complex and abnormal commodities such as spices and infant foods are becoming more widely assessed. The aim of this study was to develop and validate clean-up methods for spices and cereal-based infant foods using a citrinin immunoaffinity column before HPLC analysis with fluorescence detection. Each method developed was validated with a representative matrix, spiked at various citrinin concentrations, based around European Union (EU) regulations set for ochratoxin A (OTA), with recoveries >80% and % RSD < 9% in all cases. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) were established at 1 and 3 µg/kg for spices and 0.1 and 0.25 µg/kg for infant cereals, respectively. These methods were then tested across a variety of spices and infant food products to establish efficacy with high recoveries >75% and % RSD < 5% across all matrices assessed. Therefore, these methods proved suitable for providing effective clean-up of spices and infant cereals, enabling reliable quantification of citrinin detected. Samples such as nutmeg and infant multigrain porridge had higher levels of citrinin contamination than anticipated, indicating that citrinin could be a concern for public health. This highlighted the need for close monitoring of citrinin contamination in these commodities, which may become regulated in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Prevention Technologies for Toxins)
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18 pages, 4599 KiB  
Article
Dimethylformamide Inhibits Fungal Growth and Aflatoxin B1 Biosynthesis in Aspergillus flavus by Down-Regulating Glucose Metabolism and Amino Acid Biosynthesis
by Lin Pan, Peng Chang, Jing Jin, Qingli Yang and Fuguo Xing
Toxins 2020, 12(11), 683; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12110683 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3070
Abstract
Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites produced by plant fungal pathogens infecting crops with strong carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Dimethylformamide (DMF) is an excellent solvent widely used in biology, medicine and other fields. However, the effect and mechanism of DMF as a common organic [...] Read more.
Aflatoxins (AFs) are secondary metabolites produced by plant fungal pathogens infecting crops with strong carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Dimethylformamide (DMF) is an excellent solvent widely used in biology, medicine and other fields. However, the effect and mechanism of DMF as a common organic solvent against fungal growth and AFs production are not clear. Here, we discovered that DMF had obvious inhibitory effect against A. flavus, as well as displayed complete strong capacity to combat AFs production. Hereafter, the inhibition mechanism of DMF act on AFs production was revealed by the transcriptional expression analysis of genes referred to AFs biosynthesis. With 1% DMF treatment, two positive regulatory genes of AFs biosynthetic pathway aflS and aflR were down-regulated, leading to the suppression of the structural genes in AFs cluster like aflW, aflP. These changes may be due to the suppression of VeA and the subsequent up-regulation of FluG. Exposure to DMF caused the damage of cell wall and the dysfunction of mitochondria. In particular, it is worth noting that most amino acid biosynthesis and glucose metabolism pathway were down-regulated by 1% DMF using Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Taken together, these RNA-Seq data strongly suggest that DMF inhibits fungal growth and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) production by A. flavus via the synergistic interference of glucose metabolism, amino acid biosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Prevention Technologies for Toxins)
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16 pages, 2953 KiB  
Article
Transcriptomic Insights into the Antifungal Effects of Magnolol on the Growth and Mycotoxin Production of Alternaria alternata
by Liuqing Wang, Duo Wang, Shuzhi Yuan, Xiaoyuan Feng and Meng Wang
Toxins 2020, 12(10), 665; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12100665 - 20 Oct 2020
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3012
Abstract
Alternaria alternata is an important phytopathogen causing fruit black rot and also producing a variety of mycotoxins, such as alternariol (AOH) and alternariol monomethyl ether (AME) as two main contaminants. This could lead to economic losses of agricultural products as well as human [...] Read more.
Alternaria alternata is an important phytopathogen causing fruit black rot and also producing a variety of mycotoxins, such as alternariol (AOH) and alternariol monomethyl ether (AME) as two main contaminants. This could lead to economic losses of agricultural products as well as human health risks. In this study, magnolol extracted from the traditional Chinese herb, Mangnolia officinalis, exhibited an obvious antifungal property and could completely suppress the mycelial growth at 100 μM. Morphological differences of A. alternata were observed to be significantly shrunk and wrinkled after the exposure to magnolol. Furthermore, AOH and AME were no longer produced in response to 50 μM of magnolol. To uncover the antifungal and antimycotoxigenic mechanisms, the transcriptomic profiles of A. alternata—treated with or without magnolol—were evaluated. The clustered genes responsible for AOH and AME biosynthesis were obviously less transcribed under magnolol stress and this was further confirmed by qRT-PCR. The global regulators of carbon and nitrogen utilization, such as CreA and NmrA, were significantly down-regulated and this possibly caused the reduction in mycotoxins. In addition, fatty acid β-oxidation was regarded to contribute to polyketide mycotoxin production for the supply of precursor acetyl-CoA while the expression of these related genes was inhibited. The response to magnolol led to the marked alteration of oxidative stress and the down-expression of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway from the transcriptome data and the determination of peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione (GSH) assays. This above might be the very reason for the growth supression and mycotoxin production of A. alternata by magnolol. This study provides new insights into its potential as an important active ingredient for the control of A. alternata and its mycotoxins in fruits and their products. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Prevention Technologies for Toxins)
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