Biological Detoxification of Mycotoxins: Current Status and Future Advances

Mycotoxins are highly toxic metabolites produced by fungi that pose a huge threat to human and animal health. Contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins is a worldwide issue, which leads to huge financial losses, annually. Decades of research have developed various approaches to degrade mycotoxins, among which the biological methods have been proved to have great potential and advantages. This review provides an overview on the important advances in the biological removal of mycotoxins over the last decade. Here, we provided further insight into the chemical structures and the toxicity of the main mycotoxins. The innovative strategies including mycotoxin degradation by novel probiotics are summarized in an in-depth discussion on potentialities and limitations. We prospected the promising future for the development of multifunctional approaches using recombinant enzymes and microbial consortia for the simultaneous removal of multiple mycotoxins.

Automated summary

Mycotoxins, highly toxic metabolites produced by fungi, pose a significant threat to human and animal health. Worldwide contamination of food and feed with mycotoxins leads to substantial financial losses annually. Biological methods for mycotoxin degradation have shown great potential and advantages. This review highlights the important advances in the biological removal of mycotoxins over the past decade, including discussions on the chemical structures, toxicity, and innovative strategies such as using novel probiotics. Prospects for the development of multifunctional approaches using recombinant enzymes and microbial consortia for simultaneous mycotoxin removal are also discussed.