Detoxification of mycotoxins by microorganisms

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by a wide variety of filamentous fungi. These compounds are toxic to humans and animals, and, in several cases, also to invertebrates, plants and microbial cells. Contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins can occur at different stages of the production chain, thus making mycotoxins a very important dietary risk factor. Various methods based on physical and chemical principles can be implemented to mitigate mycotoxin contamination. However, these methods possess two important disadvantages: the generation of toxic residues and the alteration of the nutritional and palatability qualities. Several bacterial and fungal species can detoxify mycotoxins by adsorption and/or biotransformation. Adsorption implies the interaction of the mycotoxin with a cellular component, while biotransformation is the chemical modification of the toxin. There are plenty of examples that demonstrate that detoxification of mycotoxins employing microbial cells or microbial enzymes is an environmentally friendly, efficient, specific and safe method. This chapter focuses on the biological detoxification of structurally different mycotoxins by adsorption to microbial cells or microbial biotransformation. It includes a comprehensive review of the discovery of the most critical mycotoxins, the use of probiotics to remove mycotoxins by surface adsorption, and the microbial biotransformation reactions, products, and mechanisms known to date that result in the detoxification of aflatoxins, fumonisins, zearalenone, ochratoxins, trichothecenes, patulin and fusaric acid.