Mycotoxin production ihbitors from natural products

Abstract

Mycotoxin production inhibitors are useful as lead compounds in the development of effective drugs for preventing mycotoxin contamination in food and feed. These inhibitors also serve as valuable probes for investigating the regulatory mechanisms that control mycotoxin production in fungi. We screened microbial metabolites and essential oils to fi nd inhibitors that specifi cally targeted aflatoxin production in Aspergillus parasiticus and trichothecene production in Fusarium graminearum. This led to fi ndings of afl atoxin production inhibitory activity of afl astatins, blasticidins A and S, dioctatin A, dillapiol, apiol and spiroethers. We also found trichothecene production inhib-itory activity of spiroethers, precocenes and piperitone. Our work on these compounds is reviewed.