Plant-based natural flavonoids show strong inhibition of aflatoxin production and related gene expressions correlated with chemical structure

Aflatoxins are strong carcinogenic and mutagenic fungal metabolites, and aflatoxin contamination is a critical issue in agriculture and food production. Natural flavonoids can suppress aflatoxin biosynthesis; however, the structure-activity relationship remains unclear. In the present study, a total of 36 structurally related natural flavonoids were tested against the aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus, both in-vitro and in-situ (on maize kernels), to investigate their structure-activity relationship and biological activity. Aflatoxin production (IC50 values: 10.85-20.09 mu g/mL) and the expression of related genes (aflD, aflK, aflQ, and aflR) were found to be strongly inhibited. Structure-activity relationship studies revealed that the [-OH] or [-O-CH3] groups at position 6 of ring A and position 4 ' of ring B were closely associated with antifungal and antiaflatoxigenic activities. These findings provide valuable information for the development of clean and safe methods to prevent aflatoxin contamination in food.

Automated summary

This study found that natural flavonoids can inhibit aflatoxin production and revealed the structure-activity relationship. These findings are important for the development of clean and safe methods to prevent aflatoxin contamination in food.