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Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are a promising solution to reduce exposure to dietary mycotoxins because of the unique mycotoxin decontaminating characteristic of some LAB. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most prominent mycotoxins found in agricultural commodities. The present work reports on the ability of Pediococcus parvulus strains that were isolated from Douro wines that spontaneously underwent malolactic fermentation to detoxify OTA. These strains were identified and characterised using a polyphasic approach that employed both phenotypic and genotypic methods. When cultivated on OTA-supplemented MRS media, OTA was biodegraded into OTα by certain P. parvulus strains. The presence of OTα was confirmed using LC-MS/MS. The conversion of OTA into OTα indicates that the OTA amide bond was hydrolysed by a putative peptidase. The rate of OTA biodegradation was found to be dependent on the inoculum size and on the incubation temperature. Adsorption assays with dead P. parvulus cells showed that approximately 1.3%±1.0 of the OTA was adsorbed onto cells wall, which excludes this mechanism in the elimination of OTA by strains that degrades OTA. Under optimum conditions, 50% and 90% of OTA were degraded in 6 and 19h, respectively. Other LAB strains that belonged to different species were tested but did not degrade OTA. OTA biodegradation by P. parvulus UTAD 473 was observed in grape must. Because some P. parvulus strains have relevant probiotic properties, the strains that were identified could be particularly relevant to food and feed applications to counteract the toxic effects of OTA.

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