Special Issue "Environmental Stress on the Production of Mycotoxins"

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Mycotoxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Bojan Šarkanj
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Food Technology, University Center Koprivnica, University North, Trg dr. Žarka Dolinara 1, 48000 Koprivnica, Croatia
Interests: microbiology and immunology; mycotoxins; lc-ms/ms; antifungal testing
Dr. Tihomir Kovač
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Food Technology Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Franje Kuhača 18, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Interests: foodborne fungi; mycotoxins; secondary metabolism; oxidative stress; Aspergillus spp., nanoparticles; fullerene

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The mycotoxin produced by the secondary metabolism of agricultural and foodborne important fungi is a low molecular weight but highly toxic compound and a significant hazard for human and animal health. These compounds occur naturally in the environment, but their production is increased due to various natural and synthetic environmental stressors that can modulate the oxidative status of the fungal cell. Oxidative stress is one of the main factors that triggers mycotoxin biosynthesis in fungal cells. Furthermore, climate change is also important in those metabolic pathways since it strongly negatively regulates environmental factors such as temperature, rainfall level, and CO2 concentration and thus shapes the fungal community in the environment and mycotoxin production. A constant evaluation of mycotoxin risk is needed as insurance for a minimization of the adverse effects caused by environmental stress factors of any kind. Such processes can be evaluated on a molecular and genetic level, but with the same aim of establishing mechanisms that are able to control and reduce contamination of the environment with mycotoxins. This will not only protect human and animal health but also decrease economic losses and increase food availability, especially in developing countries.

For these reasons, this Special Issue on “Environmental Stress on the Production of Mycotoxins” shall cover all the important topics related to mycotoxin production influenced by stressors from the environment that occur naturally, are applied on purpose, are a consequence of environmental pollution and climate change and are thus becoming important stress factors that modulate fungal cell oxidative status and mycotoxin production.

Dr. Bojan Šarkanj
Dr. Tihomir Kovač
Guest Editors

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 papers will be 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 2400 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

  • environment
  • oxidative stress
  • mycotoxins
  • climate change
  • plant resistance
  • weather conditions

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Mycotoxins, Phytoestrogens and Other Secondary Metabolites in Austrian Pastures: Occurrences, Contamination Levels and Implications of Geo-Climatic Factors
Toxins 2021, 13(7), 460; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13070460 - 30 Jun 2021
Viewed by 1170
Abstract
Pastures are key feed sources for dairy production and can be contaminated with several secondary metabolites from fungi and plants with toxic or endocrine-disrupting activities, which possess a risk for the health, reproduction and performance of cattle. This exploratory study aimed to determine [...] Read more.
Pastures are key feed sources for dairy production and can be contaminated with several secondary metabolites from fungi and plants with toxic or endocrine-disrupting activities, which possess a risk for the health, reproduction and performance of cattle. This exploratory study aimed to determine the co-occurrences and concentrations of a wide range of mycotoxins, phytoestrogens and other secondary metabolites in grazing pastures. Representative samples of pastures were collected from 18 Austrian dairy farms (one sample per farm) between April to October 2019. After sample preparation (drying and milling) the pastures were subjected to multi-metabolite analysis using LC-MS/MS. In total, 68 metabolites were detected, including regulated zearalenone and deoxynivalenol (range: 2.16–138 and 107–505 μg/kg on a dry matter (DM) basis, respectively), modified (3-deoxynivalenol-glucoside, HT-2-glucoside) and emerging Fusarium mycotoxins (e.g., enniatins), ergot alkaloids and Alternaria metabolites along with phytoestrogens and other metabolites. Aflatoxins, fumonisins, T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin and ochratoxins were not detected. Of the geo-climatic factors and botanical diversity investigated, the environment temperature (average of 2 pre-sampling months and the sampling month) was the most influential factor. The number of fungal metabolites linearly increased with increasing temperatures and temperatures exceeding 15 °C triggered an exponential increment in the concentrations of Fusarium and Alternaria metabolites and ergot alkaloids. In conclusion, even though the levels of regulated mycotoxins detected were below the EU guidance levels, the long-term exposure along with co-occurrence with modified and emerging mycotoxins might be an underestimated risk for grazing and forage-fed livestock. The one-year preliminary data points out a dominant effect of environmental temperature in the diversity and contamination level of fungal metabolites in pastures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Stress on the Production of Mycotoxins)
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Article
Effects of Light on the Ochratoxigenic Fungi Aspergillus ochraceus and A. carbonarius
Toxins 2021, 13(4), 251; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13040251 - 31 Mar 2021
Viewed by 630
Abstract
Ochratoxin A (OTA) usually contaminates agricultural products such as grapes, oatmeal, coffee and spices. Light was reported as an effective strategy to control spoilage fungi and mycotoxins. This research investigated the effects of light with different wavelengths on the growth and the production [...] Read more.
Ochratoxin A (OTA) usually contaminates agricultural products such as grapes, oatmeal, coffee and spices. Light was reported as an effective strategy to control spoilage fungi and mycotoxins. This research investigated the effects of light with different wavelengths on the growth and the production of OTA in Aspergillus ochraceus and Aspergillus carbonarius. The results showed that the growth of both fungi were extremely inhibited by UV-B. Short-wavelength (blue, violet) significantly inhibited the production of OTA in both fungi, while the inhibitory effect of white was only demonstrated on A. ochraceus. These results were supported by the expression profiles of OTA biosynthetic genes of A. ochraceus and A. carbonarius. To clarify, the decrease in OTA production is induced by inhibition or degradation; therefore, the degradation of OTA under different wavelengths of light was tested. Under UV-B, the degradation rate of 10 μg/mL OTA standard pure-solution samples could reach 96.50% in 15 days, and the degradation effect of blue light was relatively weak. Furthermore, infection experiments of pears showed that the pathogenicity of both fungi was significantly decreased under UV-B radiation. Thus, these results suggested that light could be used as a potential target for strategies in the prevention and control of ochratoxigenic fungi. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Stress on the Production of Mycotoxins)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Effects of climate conditions on various winter wheat varieties naturally infected and Fusarium spp. inoculated
Authors: Kovač T; Šarkanj B; Sulyok M; Lončarić A; Babić J; Krska R; Španić V.
Affiliation: Department of Food Technology, University Center Koprivnica, University North, Trg dr. Žarka Dolinara 1, 48000 Koprivnica, Croatia

Title: Resistance of Croatian conventional and traditional apple cultivars to P. expansum
Authors: Lončarić A; Šarkanj B; Kovač 3; Nevistić A; Fruk G; Skendrović Babojelić M; Babić J; Miličević B; Kovač T.
Affiliation: Department of Food Technology, University Center Koprivnica, University North, Trg dr. Žarka Dolinara 1, 48000 Koprivnica, Croatia

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