FOR FUMONISIN DETOXIFICATION
Manuel Ferrer1, David Almendral1, Jog Raj2*, Hunor Farkaš2 and Marko Vasiljević2
1Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistyr, Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Spain
2Patent CO., DOO., Serbia
*Corresponding author: jog.raj@patent-co.com
WMFmeetsSalzburg 7-9 April 2025, Salzburg, Austria
BACKGROUND
Fungi in grain and animal feed produce mycotoxins, posing a significant challenge for producers due to their harmful effects on humans and animals.
Among these mycotoxins, fumonisins contaminate a wide range of food and feed matrices, resulting in substantial economic losses for the agri-food sector.
While there are mechanical, thermal, and chemical methods to remove mycotoxins, they often generate hazardous by-products
Enzymatic detoxification offers a promising, safer alternative.
However, current options for enzymatic fumonisin degradation are limited, and there is a lack of effective tools and benchmarks to guide the discovery of new enzymes.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to:
Identify and characterize a novel enzyme capable of efficiently degrading fumonisins, using a metagenomic-based discovery pipeline.
Evaluate its potential application in real and industrial agri-food conditions. 1 2
MATERIALS & METHODS
A metagenomic approach was used to search for candidate enzymes with fumonisin-degrading activity.
The selected enzyme was tested for its ability to degrade fumonisin B1 (FB1), B2 (FB2), and B3 (FB3) across various concentrations and conditions.
Assays were conducted under different pH levels (5.0–8.0), temperatures (30 °C to 90 °C), and fumonisin concentrations (1–90 ppm), both in pure solutions and in naturally contaminated maize matrices.
Sequence analysis was carried out to compare the enzyme with existing fumonisin-degrading enzymes.
