Mutagenic activity of austocystins - secondary metabolites of Aspergillus ustus
Mycotoxins constitute a group of toxic secondary fungal metabolites. Fungi that produce these toxins frequently contaminate food and feed, creating a potential threat to human and animal health. Biological activities of mycotoxins include, amongst others: toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity, which can be expressed with or without metabolic activation. Austocystins are similar in structure to aflatoxin B/sup 1/ and are probably synthesized in a similar manner. The Ames Salmonella test, a widely accepted method employed for the detection of mutagenic activity of various chemical compounds was used for testing the mutagenic activity of different mycotoxins. As aflatoxin B/sup 1/ was found by the Ames test to be highly mutagenic, the same test was applied for the study of possible mutagenicity of the austocystins. The mutagenic activity of these compounds was studied with and without metabolic activation using two tester strains of S. typhimurium, one capable of detecting frame shift mutation (strain TA98) and the other capable of detecting base pair substitution (strain TA100).
- Research Organization:
- National Chemical Research Lab., Pretoria, South Africa
- OSTI ID:
- 6787807
- Journal Information:
- Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.; (United States), Vol. 37:5
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM
MUTATIONS
TOXINS
MUTAGEN SCREENING
ASPERGILLUS
METABOLIC ACTIVATION
METABOLITES
ANTIGENS
BACTERIA
FUNGI
MATERIALS
MICROORGANISMS
PLANTS
SALMONELLA
SCREENING
TOXIC MATERIALS
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology