Antifungal and anti-aflatoxigenic mechanisms of dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma on Aspergillus flavus spores

IF 6.3 1区农林科学 Q1 FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies Pub Date : 2025-02-13 DOI:10.1016/j.ifset.2025.103964

Luling Zhao , Wenjing Yan , Hao Zhang , Jianhao Zhang , Jin Wang , Xiaowei Sheng , Vijaya Raghavan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aspergillus flavus and its toxic aflatoxins secondary metabolites can cause a serious threat to food safety and public health. Recently, dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma (DBD-CP) has exhibited a high-efficiency decontamination ability on A. flavus spores, whereas its action mechanism remains unclear. This research investigated the mechanisms of antifungal and anti-aflatoxigenic properties of DBD-CP on A. flavus spores. Our results indicated that the ratios of cell apoptosis and necroptosis after DBD-CP treatment for 40 s were 37.0 % and 35.8 %, respectively. Moreover, the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) were accumulated by DBD-CP, which triggered apoptosis by the metacaspase-dependent mitochondrial pathway and necroptosis by the RIP1/RIP3 necrosome, respectively. Besides, DBD-CP could inhibit aflatoxin B₁ production by regulating the expression of key genes (aflC, aflE and aflM) during the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway. Hence, this work revealed new insight into the mechanisms of action by DBD-CP on A. flavus spores, providing a theoretical foundation for the application of DBD-CP in fungal inactivation and mycotoxin production.

Industrial relevance

This research revealed the antifungal mechanism by ROS-mediated apoptosis and necrosis, further exploring the anti-aflatoxigenic mechanism by inhibiting the expression of key genes in aflatoxin biosynthesis as well. These results contribute to the understanding of fungal inactivation and mycotoxin production by DBD-CP, accelerating the development of cold plasma in food decontamination.

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来源期刊

Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies 工程技术-食品科技

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

6.10%

发文量

259

审稿时长

25 days

期刊介绍： Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies (IFSET) aims to provide the highest quality original contributions and few, mainly upon invitation, reviews on and highly innovative developments in food science and emerging food process technologies. The significance of the results either for the science community or for industrial R&D groups must be specified. Papers submitted must be of highest scientific quality and only those advancing current scientific knowledge and understanding or with technical relevance will be considered.