Inhibitory Effects of Ephedra major Host on Aspergillus parasiticus Growth and Aflatoxin Production

Abstract

This study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of Ephedra major Host, an important medicinal plant with various biological activities, on growth and aflatoxin (AF) production by Aspergillus parasiticus NRRL 2999. The fungus was cultured in yeast extract-sucrose (YES) broth, a conductive medium that supports AF production, in the presence of various concentrations of essential oil (EO), hexanic and methanolic extracts of plant aerial parts, fruits, and roots using microbioassay technique. After incubating for 96 h at 28 degrees C in static conditions, mycelial dry weight was determined as an index of fungal growth, and aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) was measured using HPLC technique. Based on the obtained results, EO of plant aerial parts significantly inhibited fungal growth at the highest concentration of 1000 microg/ml without any obvious effect on AFB(1) production at all concentrations used. Among plant extracts tested, only methanolic extract of aerial parts and roots were found to inhibit fungal growth and AFB(1) production dose-dependently with an IC(50) value of 559.74 and 3.98 microg/ml for AFB(1), respectively. Based on the GC/MS data, the major components of E. major EO were bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (42.48%), pentacosane (20.94%), docosane (14.64%), citronellol (5.15%), heptadecan (4.41%), cis-3-Hexen-1-ol benzoate (4.07%), and 7-Octen-2-ol (3.25%). With respect to the potent inhibition of fungal growth and AF production by E. major, this plant may be useful in protecting crops from both toxigenic fungal growth and AF contamination.

Antitoxin Characteristic of Licorice Extract: The Inhibitory Effect on Aflatoxin Production in Aspergillus parasiticus

“…However, other results indicated that the inhibition of growth, as well as aflatoxin production of this fungus in maize grain were at 1.0% (v/v) or more (Thanaboripat et al 2007). In 2009, Bagheri et al evaluated the inhibitory effect of Ephedra major host on growth and production of aflatoxin in A. parasiticus and reported the complete stop of AFL-B1 production in the presence of 1 mg/mL of essential oil of the aerial parts of the mentioned plant (Bagheri-Gavkosh et al 2009).…”

Exploration of cultivable fungal communities in deep coal‐bearing sediments from ∼1.3 to 2.5 km below the ocean floor

“…Several Aspergillus spp. have been isolated from plants of Ephedra (Bagheri-Gavkosh et al, 2009), Betulaceae (Joshi, 2008;Osono and Masuya, 2012), Carya (V azquez- Barrios et al, 2001) and Tsuga (Christensen et al, 1964); Cladosporium cladosporioides from Castanopsis hystrix (Kayini and Pandey, 2010), and Schizophyllum commune from Acer (Matavuly et al, 2013) and Carpinus (Rocchi et al, 2010). The correlation between endophytic or parasitic fungal occurrence and observations of plant fossils (Supporting Information Table S6) support the notion that fungi were co-deposited with plant-derived organic matter during initial depositional processes, rather than having colonized subseafloor sediments more recently, when surface sediments had become fully marine.…”

Formulations, characterization, in vitro and ex vivo release of Ephedra extract from topical preparations using dialysis cellulose membrane and natural rabbit skin

“…They are found in the region of Iran, northwest India, and Pakistan (Balochistan). These shrub plants also showed antioxidant and antimicrobial activities (13)(14)(15). Ephedra basic compounds consist of the alkaloids E and PE and phenols (16).…”