Crop contamination by aflatoxin B₁ is a current problem in tropical and subtropical regions. In the future, this contamination risk may be expanded to European countries due to climate change. The development of alternative strategies to prevent mycotoxin contamination that further contribute to the substitution of phytopharmaceutical products are thus needed. For this, a promising method resides in the use of biocontrol agents. Several actinobacteria strains have demonstrated to effectively reduce the aflatoxin B₁ concentration. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanism of action by which these biological agents reduce the mycotoxin concentration has not been determined. The aim of the present study was to test the potential use of Streptomyces roseolus as a biocontrol agent against aflatoxin B₁ contamination. Co-cultures with Aspergillus flavus were conducted, and the molecular fungal response was investigated through analyzing the q-PCR expression of 65 genes encoding relevant fungal functions. Moreover, kojic and cyclopiazonic acid concentrations, as well as morphological fungal changes were also analyzed. The results demonstrated that reduced concentrations of aflatoxin B₁ and kojic acid were respectively correlated with the down-regulation of the aflatoxin B₁ gene cluster and kojR gene expression. Moreover, a fungal hypersporulated phenotype and a general over-expression of genes involved in fungal development were observed in the co-culture condition.
Keywords: Aspergillus flavus; Streptomyces roseolus; aflatoxin B1; biocontrol; fungal morphology; gene expression.