Evaluation of beauvericin toxicity with the bacterial bioluminescence assay and the Ames mutagenicity bioassay

The bacterial bioluminescence assay was used to determine the acute toxicity level of beauvericin, which was found to be moderate with an EC50 of 94 +/- 9 mug/mL. The Ames test was used to evaluate mutagenicity of this mycotoxin. Assays were carried out on 5 Salmonella typhimurium standard tester strains. The spot test was performed on a single beauvericin concentration of 2 mug/plate. The plate incorporation test was done over a range of concentrations (0.2 to, 500 mug/plate), both with and without S9. A negative control and 3 positive controls, 2-aminofluorene, sodium azide, and dexon, were included in the assays. Beauvericin was nonmutagenic to any of the standard tester strains used, either with or without metabolic activation.