Morphological and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Inhibitory Effects of <i>Lactobacillus plantarum</i> on <i>Aspergillus flavus</i> Growth and Aflatoxin Production
Yueju Zhao,
Chenxi Zhang,
Yawa Minnie Elodie Folly,
Jinghua Chang,
Yan Wang,
Lu Zhou,
Heping Zhang,
Yang Liu
Affiliations
Yueju Zhao
Key Laboratory of Agro-products Quality and Safety Control in Storage and Transport Process, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Chenxi Zhang
Key Laboratory of Agro-products Quality and Safety Control in Storage and Transport Process, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Yawa Minnie Elodie Folly
Key Laboratory of Agro-products Quality and Safety Control in Storage and Transport Process, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Jinghua Chang
College of Science, Liaoning Technical University, Fuxin 123000, China
Yan Wang
Key Laboratory of Agro-products Quality and Safety Control in Storage and Transport Process, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Lu Zhou
Biological Testing and Analysis Department, Guangdong Provincial Institute of Food Inspection, Guangzhou 51000, China
Heping Zhang
Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Dairy Products Processing, Ministry of Agriculture, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Yang Liu
Key Laboratory of Agro-products Quality and Safety Control in Storage and Transport Process, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
Lactobacillus plantarum, as a natural bio-preservative, has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. In this study, 22 L. plantarum strains were tested against the aflatoxin-producing fungus, Aspergillus flavus; strain IAMU80070 showed the highest antifungal activity. At a concentration of 5 × 105 colony-forming units (CFU) mL−1, it completely inhibited A. flavus growth and decreased aflatoxin production by 93%. Furthermore, ultrastructural examination showed that IAMU80070 destroyed the cellular structure of hyphae and spores. To explore the inhibitory effect of IAMU80070 on A. flavus at the transcriptional level, transcriptome data were obtained and subjected to Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. The aflatoxin biosynthetic process was the most significantly downregulated functional category, while genes implicated in the synthesis and organization of cell wall polysaccharides were upregulated. Quantitative real-time PCR results verified the credibility and reliability of the RNA sequencing data. These results provided insight into the transcriptome of A. flavus in response to the antagonistic effects of L. plantarum IAMU80070.
