Stimulation of Aflatoxin Biosynthesis by Lipophilic Epoxides

Abstract

Epoxy fatty acids added to the culture media with the inoculum or at the end of exponential growth phase stimulated aflatoxin production by toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus. This effect did not appear when the unsaturated fatty acids used for the synthesis of the epoxides and the polyhydroxyacids (considered to be derived from the opening of the oxirane ring) replaced the epoxides in the culture media. No significant differences were detected in the lipid fractions (diglycerides, sterols, triglycerides, free fatty acids, sterol esters) extracted from the mycelia growth in the presence of any fatty acid derivate.