Today, fungal toxins or mycotoxins are a major problem in the food industry and food chain safety, which can contaminate a wide range of agricultural products, and thus they have negatively affect on health and production of livestock and poultry, and consequently human health, the economies of countries and even international trade. Since mycotoxin contamination cannot be completely prevented before or after harvest, it is important to know exactly how to remove mycotoxins during technological processes and feed clearance strategies. Today, the biological control of mycotoxins by microorganisms and other biological factors is becoming a valid approach to protect food products from contamination by these toxins, which increases the safety and quality of crops and animal feed, and ultimately reduces toxin concentration in animal products (milk, meat and eggs), and increase food chain security.

هدف از این تحقیق ارزیابی فعالیت ضد قارچی اسموتین در برابر چندین بیمارگر قارچی مهم گیاهی شامل می ­شد. به منظور انجام این مطالعه، ژن اسموتین از گیاه تنباکو (Nicotiana tabacum)  در باکتری(Rosetta DE3)  Escherichia coli   همسانه ­سازی و بیان گردید. به منظور بهینه سازی شرایط بیان پروتئین، از آزمون تاگوچی استفاده شد. آزمون وسترن بلات بیان پروتئین نوترکیب را مورد تأیید قرار داد. بررسی ها نشان داد پروتئین نوترکیب بیان شده عمدتاً به شکل نامحلول اینکلوژن بادی در سلول انباشته می شود؛ لذا پس از محلول ساختن این توده ها با کمک مواد احیا کننده شرایط ایجاد ساختمان طبیعی تأمین شد. اثر اسموتین نوترکیب بر قارچ های Rhizoctonia solani، Botrytis cinerea، Sclerotinia sclerotiorum، Fusarium oxysporum، Verticillium dahleae و Alternaria brassicola مورد بررسی قرار گرفته و فعالیت پروتئین خالص شده از طریق سه آزمون ضدقارچی متفاوت Radial Diffusion، Disk Diffusion و Spore Germination ارزیابی و مشاهده شد که این پروتئین رشد قارچ های فوق را مهار می کند. همچنین آزمون همولیتیک خونی نشان داد که این پروتئین برای سلول های پستانداران فاقد سمیت می ­باشد. یافته های فوق نشان می ­دهد که ژن اسموتین گیاه تنباکو دارای توانایی قابل توجهی در مهار رشد قارچ های بیماریزا گیاهی می ­باشد. همچنین این ژن می­ تواند درتولید گیاهان تراریخته مقاوم به  قارچ های بیماریزا مورد استفاده قرار گیرد.

Aflatoxins are highly toxic and carcinogenic mycotoxins produced by Aspergillus spp. Poultry feeds and ingredients are vulnerable to fungal growth and aflatoxin formation. Naturally occurring aflatoxin contains aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, but aflatoxin B1 is usually the highest concentration and is the most toxic. The most economically significant effects of aflatoxicosis in growing birds are decreasing growth and poor feed conversion rate, decreasing size and egg production and immunosuppressive effects. In the present study 75 samples consist of 25 samples of soyameal, maize and fish meal were collected from 2 main poultry feed factories and poultry farms around Ahvaz. Isolation of fungi was made by pour plate method and aflatoxins extracted by thin layer chromatography (TLC) method. The results of the present study showed that 96 percent of soyameal, 88 percent of maize and 100 percent of fish meal were contaminated with Aspergillus spp with different levels. The highest contaminations of Aspergillus were made from domestic maize and fishmeal. 60% of fishmeal, 40% of maize and 60% of soyameal contained different level of aflatoxin. The highest amount of B1 aflatoxin was 15 ppb detected in domestic fish meal.

This study was conducted to evaluate the renal pathological changes and serum biochemical parameters in broilers fed a diet containing low-levels (254 ppb) of aflatoxin (AF) and adsorbents until 35 days of age. Seven-day-old male broilers were randomly assigned to one of the nine dietary treatments with four replicates of 12 chicks each. Treatments were: 1) control; 2) naturally AF contaminated diet (NCD); 3,4,5,6 and 7) NCD supplemented with 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1%, humic acid (HA) respectively; 8 and 9) NCD supplemented with 0.5% sodium bentonite (SB) and 0.1% esterified glucomannan (E-GM), respectively. Blood samples were taken on the 35th day of the study and the phosphorus, calcium, urea nitrogen (BUN), and creatinine levels in serum were analyzed. When the chicks reached 35 days of age, the feeding trial was terminated and 12 broilers from each treatment were selected at random and were killed for pathological examination. Microscopically, the kidney in chickens fed diet containing 254ppb AF showed significant lesions, compared to control. At the end of the study, it was determined that aflatoxin caused a decrease in BUN and an increase in phosphorous levels. The addition of HA and E-GM to NCD decreased both the alterations of serum biochemical parameters and the severity of lesions in the kidney. These results clearly demonstrated that histological lesions and serum biochemical changes were observed in chickens fed a diet containing 254ppb AF and that addition of dietary E-GM and HA is effective in counteracting the toxic effects of naturally contaminated feed with mycotoxins.

Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) are key elements for pest management in sustainable agriculture. Many EPFs can produce secondary metabolites with toxic effects, playing an essential role in their pathogenicity. In this study, the metabolites of some EPFs, including three isolates of Akanthomyces lecanii species (PAL6, PAL7, and PAL8) and one isolate of A. muscarius species (AGM5), were biochemically analyzed. Extracellular metabolites were isolated from the fungal cells of the two-week-old culture of each isolate, and the chemical constituents were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). During the retention interval of 10-13 minutes, four different peaks were observed within metabolites of the isolates PAL6, PAL7, and PAL8. In the case of the AGM5 isolate,however, one peak was observed at 11. 53 retention time. Comparative analysis showed the presence of insecticidal toxic cyclic peptides such as bassianolide within the fungal metabolites. Moreover, one peak with a new identity was detected within the metabolites from the fungal isolates of PAL6, PAL7, and PAL8 in the retention interval of 5 minutes from the isolate AGM5 at 11. 53 retention times. The results demonstrated that producing toxic compounds such as bassianolide by the EPF probably contributed to their insecticidal effects.

Marine organisms are rich sources of bioactive compounds and their biotechnological potential attracted the attention to biologists and chemists all over the world. During the first decade of the 21st century alone, over 2000 molecules from cnidarians were described. The phylum cnidaria (corals, sea pens, sea anemones, jellyfish and hydroids) includes over 10,000 species living in aquatic habitats. Cnidarians are the oldest venomous animals. In this phylum, most toxicological studies have been done in Anthozoa. The Soft corals Alcyonacea and Gorgonacea orders of Anthozoa represent by far the highest number of species yielding promising compounds. Up to now, numerous chemical components have been isolated from cnidarians, including steroids, diterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids have been shown to exhibit biological properties such as antimicrobial, antitumor activities and cytotoxicity. In this review, we summarize some studies that focus on some of the most promising marine bioactive isolated from cindirians in last decade.