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Fumonisins impact in aquaculture: A real threat? Rui A. Gonçalves, Lucta
When talking about mycotoxins' impact on aquaculture, the most typical response is “it depends”, which is always a “correct answer”, however, “most of the time” is also an unsatisfactory answer. It is easy to understand that with the high number of produced species (466 species-groups, excluding algae and aquatic plants) in aquaculture, it would be extremely hard to fully understand mycotoxins’ impact in such a highly diverse industry. However, we need to be aware that the extrapolation and/or generalization of the already learned concepts for some species may be incorrect and dangerous.
Fumonisins: What are they? Fumonisins are naturally occurring toxins produced by a number of Fusarium fungi species,
notably F. verticillioides, F. proliferatum and F. nygamai. Several different types of fumonisins are known, but fumonisins B1, B2 and B3 (also named FB1, FB2 and FB3) are the major forms found in feed and food. You will note that most of the experiments performed in animal nutrition tend to use FB1 (purified form) or a combination of all three forms (especially when using natural contaminated ingredients). Fumonisins are characterized by having a long-chain hydrocarbon unit (similar to that of sphingosine and sphinganine), which plays a role in their toxicity. Fumonisins inhibit the sphinganine (sphingosine) N-acyltransferase (ceramide synthase), a key enzyme in the lipid metabolism, resulting in a disruption of this pathway. This enzyme catalyzes the acylation
Figure 1. Fumonisins sensitive levels for freshwater species reported in the scientific literature.
Aquafeed: Advances in Processing & Formulation Vol 13 Issue 1 2021
