Marine microorganisms as biocontrol agents against fungal phytopathogens and mycotoxins

ABSTRACT

Mycotoxins are a serious food safety concern for human and animal health. Much attention should be paid to the dietary exposure to mycotoxins in order to minimise the risk of mycotoxin contamination in the food chain. Among the reported strategies to manage the mycotoxin contamination into food and feed, biological control seems a promising approach, depending on their biological origins, and on the use of living organisms or their derivatives. Marine microorganisms have developed unique metabolic and physiological capabilities to thrive in extreme habitats and produce novel metabolites which are not often present in microbes of terrestrial origin. Some marine bacteria and fungi have a good potential for the control of fungal phytopathogens and mycotoxins. Biologists and chemists are needed to work together to explore the storehouse of marine microorganisms and marine active metabolites, because marine bacteria and fungi have a huge potential for practical application in biocontrol of fungal phytopathogens and preventing mycotoxin contamination.

KEYWORDS:

• Mycotoxin
• marine microorganism
• fungal phytopathogen
• biocontrol mechanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

I thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (31471657, 31000823) and the research grant from Qingdao Municipal Science and Technology Project (16-6-2-39-nsh) for supporting my research.