Tracing Fungi Secondary Metabolites in Brazil Nuts Using LC-MS/MS

Title: Tracing Fungi Secondary Metabolites in Brazil Nuts Using LC-MS/MS

Volume: 5 Issue: 3

Author(s): Otniel Freitas-Silva, Maria de Lourdes Mendes de Souza and Armando Venancio

Affiliation:

Keywords: aflatoxins, alternariol-methylether, Aspergillus spp., Bertholethia excelsa, fungal metabolites, kojic acid, Multimycotoxin, Brazil nut, Lecythidaceae, acetonitrile

Abstract: This screening aimed to evaluate quantitatively the occurrence of fungal metabolites in Brazil nuts. Nuts were collected from Agroforest production areas in Amazon basin region. A total of 235 mycotoxins (including the most prominent ones) was screened by a multi-mycotoxin method based on HPLC-MS/MS. The recovery of metabolites by the method was between 56 and 136%. Fifteen mycotoxins were detected and quantified, in at least one sample; namely, aflatoxins (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFM1), sterigmatocystin, methyl-sterigmatocystin, kojic acid, citrinin, cyclosporin A, cyclosporin C, cyclosporin D, cyclosporin H, rugulosin, alternariol-methylether and emodin. This is the first study dealing with the detection of the latter nine metabolites in Brazil nuts. Alternariol-methylether (from 0.75 to 3.2 μg/kg) was the only metabolite detected in all analyzed samples.

Cite this article as:

Freitas-Silva Otniel, de Lourdes Mendes de Souza Maria and Venancio Armando, Tracing Fungi Secondary Metabolites in Brazil Nuts Using LC-MS/MS, Drug Metabolism Letters 2011; 5 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/187231211796905053