Toxin Degradation by Rumen Microorganisms: A Review

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Abstract

Animal feeds may contain exogenous compounds that can induce toxicity when ruminants ingest them. These toxins are secondary metabolites originating from various sources including plants, bacteria, algae and fungi. Animal feed toxins are responsible for various animal poisonings which negatively impact the livestock industry. Poisoning is more frequently reported in newly exposed, naïve ruminants while ‘experienced’ ruminants are observed to better tolerate toxin-contaminated feed. Ruminants can possess detoxification ability through rumen microorganisms with the rumen microbiome able to adapt to utilise toxic secondary metabolites. The ability of rumen microorganisms to metabolise these toxins has been used as a basis for the development of preventative probiotics to confer resistance against the poisoning to naïve ruminants. In this review, detoxification of various toxins, which include plant toxins, cyanobacteria toxins and plant-associated fungal mycotoxins, by rumen microorganisms is discussed. The review will include clinical studies of the animal poisoning caused by these toxins, the toxin mechanism of action, toxin degradation by rumen microorganisms, reported and hypothesised detoxification mechanisms and identified toxin metabolites with their toxicity compared to their parent toxin. This review highlights the commercial potential of rumen inoculum derived probiotics as viable means of improving ruminant health and production.

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Response of Plant Secondary Metabolites to Environmental Factors

Li Yang, Kui-Shan Wen, Xiao Ruan … (2018)

Plant secondary metabolites (SMs) are not only a useful array of natural products but also an important part of plant defense system against pathogenic attacks and environmental stresses. With remarkable biological activities, plant SMs are increasingly used as medicine ingredients and food additives for therapeutic, aromatic and culinary purposes. Various genetic, ontogenic, morphogenetic and environmental factors can influence the biosynthesis and accumulation of SMs. According to the literature reports, for example, SMs accumulation is strongly dependent on a variety of environmental factors such as light, temperature, soil water, soil fertility and salinity, and for most plants, a change in an individual factor may alter the content of SMs even if other factors remain constant. Here, we review with emphasis how each of single factors to affect the accumulation of plant secondary metabolites, and conduct a comparative analysis of relevant natural products in the stressed and unstressed plants. Expectantly, this documentary review will outline a general picture of environmental factors responsible for fluctuation in plant SMs, provide a practical way to obtain consistent quality and high quantity of bioactive compounds in vegetation, and present some suggestions for future research and development.

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Worldwide contamination of food-crops with mycotoxins: Validity of the widely cited ‘FAO estimate’ of 25%

Mari Eskola, Gregor Kos, Christopher T. Elliott … (2019)

Prior to 1985 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated global food crop contamination with mycotoxins to be 25%. The origin of this statement is largely unknown. To assess the rationale for it, the relevant literature was reviewed and data of around 500,000 analyses from the European Food Safety Authority and large global survey for aflatoxins, fumonisins, deoxynivalenol, T-2 and HT-2 toxins, zearalenone and ochratoxin A in cereals and nuts were examined. Using different thresholds, i.e. limit of detection, the lower and upper regulatory limits of European Union (EU) legislation and Codex Alimentarius standards, the mycotoxin occurrence was estimated. Impact of different aspects on uncertainty of the occurrence estimates presented in literature and related to our results are critically discussed. Current mycotoxin occurrence above the EU and Codex limits appears to confirm the FAO 25% estimate, while this figure greatly underestimates the occurrence above the detectable levels (up to 60-80%). The high occurrence is likely explained by a combination of the improved sensitivity of analytical methods and impact of climate change. It is of immense importance that the detectable levels are not overlooked as through diets, humans are exposed to mycotoxin mixtures which can induce combined adverse health effects.

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From waste products to ecochemicals: fifty years research of plant secondary metabolism.

Thomas Hartmann (2007)

The isolation of morphine ('principium somniferum') by Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner about 200 years ago is generally accepted as the beginning of scientific phytochemistry (plant secondary products research). For about 150 years this research addressed almost exclusively the isolation and structure elucidation of new plant products. It had great impact on the development of modern organic chemistry and pharmaceutical industry and provided the chemical basis for biological research on plant secondary metabolism, which began about 50 years ago. The historical development of this field to its present state of knowledge will be considered in this review from three angles of vision: mechanistic, functional and evolutionary perspectives. Mechanistic research started on the metabolite level and was initiated by the availability of radioactive nuclides in the early 1950s. By means of sophisticated tracer techniques, the biosynthetic routs of most secondary pathways were outlined and provided the basis for the enzymatic characterization of biosynthetic pathways in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by the identification of the corresponding genes beginning in the late 1980s. During this 50-year period of intensive research a change of paradigm occurred addressing the question: why do plants synthesize this immense rich diversity of secondary metabolites comprising more than 200,000 structures? For a long time regarded as waste products or assigned with various other attributes their indispensable role as components of the survival strategy of plants in a mostly hostile environment appears now generally accepted. Along with the great progress in the field of chemical ecology, the emerging field of molecular evolution provided crucial evidence that during evolution of secondary metabolism genes encoding enzymes of plant's primary metabolism were duplicated, recruited and diversified for new functions under the everlasting and continuously changing selection pressure of the environment.

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Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Toxins (Basel)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Toxins (Basel)

Journal ID (publisher-id): toxins

Title: Toxins

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 2072-6651

Publication date (Electronic): 20 October 2020

Publication date Collection: October 2020

Volume: 12

Issue: 10

Electronic Location Identifier: 664

Affiliations

[1 ]Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), The University of Queensland, Health and Food Sciences Precinct, Coopers Plains, QLD 4108, Australia; zhihung.loh@ 123456uq.edu.au (Z.H.L.); Diane.Ouwerkerk@ 123456daf.qld.gov.au (D.O.); AtholKlieve@ 123456outlook.com (A.V.K.); n.hungerford@ 123456uq.edu.au (N.L.H.)

[2 ]Agri-Science Queensland, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (QDAF), Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia

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[* ]Correspondence: mary.fletcher@ 123456uq.edu.au ; Tel.: +61-7-3443-2479

Author information

Zhi Hung Loh https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1955-7410

Diane Ouwerkerk https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8559-7808

Natasha L. Hungerford https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5695-0713

Mary T. Fletcher https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0189-3376

Article

Publisher ID: toxins-12-00664

DOI: 10.3390/toxins12100664

PMC ID: 7590051

PubMed ID: 33092236

SO-VID: 66c823a8-3f79-41c5-8cfc-08a45de8a298

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Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Toxin Degradation by Rumen Microorganisms: A Review

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Network and Systems Medicine

Most cited references 250

Response of Plant Secondary Metabolites to Environmental Factors

Worldwide contamination of food-crops with mycotoxins: Validity of the widely cited ‘FAO estimate’ of 25%

From waste products to ecochemicals: fifty years research of plant secondary metabolism.

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