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Activity Funded

Novel protein-based affinity platform for mycotoxins clean-up

Nova plataforma de afinidade baseada em proteínas para purificação de micotoxinas

Reference
2022.03438.PTDC
Project Start Date
2023-03-12
Project End Date
2026-09-11
Principal Investigator
Coinvestigator
Scientific Area
Engineering and technology
Funding Program
Concurso de Projetos de I&D em Todos os Domínios Científicos - 2022 - ICDT

Abstract

Mycotoxins are toxic compounds produced by some filamentous fungi that occur naturally in foods. In the European Union, there are legal limits for 12 different compounds and around 70 mycotoxin/foodstuffs combinations, which highlights the importance of this group of food contaminants. More recently, the so-called modified mycotoxins are also attracting researchers' attention. These compounds are chemical analogs of the legislated mycotoxins (the parent mycotoxin), which are not detected by most routine analytical methods. Also, because they usually maintain the toxicity profile of the parent form, they are considered a source of hidden toxicity. Their presence in foodstuffs has already been reported, for example, in cereal-based products, feed, beer, and wine. Within this context, the Myco-ProAffinity project aims to develop a new clean-up and pre-concentration platform for mycotoxins and their modified forms to simplify their simultaneous determination by HPLC in foods. This platform will resort to affinity solid-phase extraction columns (Affi-SPEs) prepared with proteins that bind the target molecules, herein referred to as mycotoxin-binding proteins (MycBPs). After experimentally selected, the most active MycBPs will be produced recombinantly in fusion with tags for specific binding to conventional support materials such as cellulose (CBM3) and/or dextran (DBD) to simplify their purification and preparation of Affi-SPEs. Alternatively, innovative matrixes such as protein aerogels that can entrap the proteins of interest will also be studied. Analytical methods will be developed and validated using the constructed Affi-SPEs columns to determine ochratoxin A (OTA) in grape juices, patulin (PAT) in apple juices, and zearalenone (ZEN) in oat milk, including their respective modified forms. The development of this new sample preparation technology that combined the extraction, cleaning, and concentration of mycotoxins and their modified forms before their HPLC determination will significantly enhance the current knowledge on the occurrence of these food contaminants, a topic of increasing interest at the international level.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Universidade do Minho (UMinho)

Funding 249.802,60 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

249.802,60 €