BARD - biological detoxification of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) to improve safety of animal feed and food

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Mycotoxins are highly toxic to animals and humans. Their presence in agricultural commodities is widespread, making their control a problem of global importance. The trichothecene deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin), one of the most common mycotoxin contaminants of grains, is produced by members of the Fusarium genus. DON poses a health risk to consumers and impairs livestock performance because it causes feed refusal, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hemolytic effects and cellular injury. Trichothecenes are resistant to high cooking temperatures, as well as to chemical and physical methods of destruction, leaving biological approaches to their detoxification as the most promising solution. The Tri101 gene from F. graminearum encodes trichothecene 3-O-acetyltransferase, which converts trichothecenes into less toxic intermediates. Israeli scientists (R. Shapira) isolated the gene from Fusarium and transformed it into a probiotic strain of Lactobacillus casei. Incubation of the over-expressing transformants with the trichothecene T-2 resulted in production of the 3-O-acetyl derivative of T-2, which is significantly less toxic to yeast cells than DON. Dr. Zhou's research team at AAFC (Guelph) isolated a chicken gut bacterium that can effectively detoxify DON. At the University of Guelph, we developed methods for transforming corn with genes for resistance to F. graminearum. We propose to detoxify trichothecenes by producing transformed plants and probiotic microorganisms expressing the Tri101 gene and incorporating these agents into feeds for animals. The project is expected to pave the way to the development of innovative, highly specific and safe decontamination methods for mycotoxins in feeds and food products, thus preventing the negative impact of mycotoxins on public health in Canada and Israel. The proposed work would combine expertise in Israel and Canada in isolating mycotoxin detoxifying genes from microorganisms, expressing the detoxifying genes in microbes and plants and evaluating the effectiveness of the detoxification treatments  with animal feeding studies. It represents a unique opportunity to combine expertise to address a problem that has global implications.