Mechanism of removal of aflatoxin B1 by a resistant bacterium

A bacterium resistant to aflatoxin B1 isolated from the soil was shown to remove a maximum 26% of toxin at 3 microg ml(-1). A comparison of spectrophotometric and radioisotope methods showed that a maximum of 48 hr was sufficient to remove the toxin. Radioisotope analysis showed that the radioactivity decreased in the chloroform phase while it increased in the aqueous phase during the time course of the experiment. An analysis of the supernatant of culture medium showed that the bacterium had converted aflatoxin B1 to water soluble compounds with lambda(max) of 338 and 374.