A novel enzyme for fumonisin detoxification

Fungi in grain and animal feed produce mycotoxins, posing a significant challenge for producers due to their harmful effects on humans and animals.

Among these mycotoxins, fumonisins contaminate a wide range of food and feed matrices, resulting in substantial economic losses for the agri-food sector.

While there are mechanical, thermal, and chemical methods to remove mycotoxins, they often generate hazardous by-products.

Enzymatic detoxification offers a promising, safer alternative.

However, current options for enzymatic fumonisin degradation are limited, and there is a lack of effective tools and benchmarks to guide the discovery of new enzymes.

The aim of this study was to:

1. Identify and characterize a novel enzyme capable of efficiently degrading fumonisins, using a metagenomic-based discovery pipeline.

2. Evaluate its potential application in real and industrial agri-food conditions.

A metagenomic approach was used to search for candidate enzymes with fumonisin-degrading activity.

The selected enzyme was tested for its ability to degrade fumonisin B1 (FB1), B2 (FB2), and B3 (FB3) across various concentrations and conditions.

Assays were conducted under different pH levels (5.0–8.0), temperatures (30 °C to 90 °C), and fumonisin concentrations (1–90 ppm), both in pure solutions and in naturally contaminated maize matrices.

Sequence analysis was carried out to compare the enzyme with existing fumonisin-degrading enzymes.

The enzyme effectively degraded FB1, FB2, and FB3 under a broad range of conditions¹.

Optimal activity is observed between pH 5.0 and 8.0, at temperatures ranging from 30 °C to 90 °C, and in fumonisin concentrations from 1 ppm to 90 ppm, both in pure form and in naturally contaminated maize matrices.

In terms of sequence similarity, it shares less than 15 % identity with the only previously known fumonisindegrading enzyme, FumD (WO2010031101A1).

This newly identified enzyme demonstrates strong potential as a fumonisin-degrading biocatalyst for application in food and feed processing.