title: A Biotechnological Approach for the Development of New Antifungal Compounds to Protect the Environment and the Human Health.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the Po Valley aflatoxins play a relevant role: the local food economy is heavily based on cereal cultivations for animal feed and human nutrition. Aims of this project are the identification of new compounds that inhibit Aspergillus proliferation, the development of new inhibitors of aflatoxins production, and the set-up a practical screening procedure to identify the most effective and safe compounds.
  
  
  METHODS
  New compounds will be synthetized with natural origin molecules as ligands and endogenous metal ions to increase their bioavailability for the fungi as metal complexes. A biotechnological high-throughput screening will be set up to identify efficiently the most powerful substances. The newly synthesized compounds with effective antifungal activities, will be evaluated with battery of tests with different end-points to assess the toxic potential risk for environmental and human health.
  The fundamental step in the project will be the synthesis of new compounds and the study of their capability to inhibit aflatoxin biosynthesis. A new, simple, inexpensive and high-throughput method to screen the anti-fungine and anti-mycotoxin activity of the new synthesised compounds will be applied. The evaluation of possible risks for humans due to toxic and genotoxic activities of the molecules will be made with a new approach using different types of cells (bacteria, plants and human cells). Significance for public healthAflatoxins contamination constitutes a health emergency because aflatoxins and mycotoxins, besides being toxic, are among the most carcinogenic substances known. Even if Aspergillus are dominant in tropical regions, recently are becoming a serious problem also in Europe and in Italy, especially in area as the Po Valley in which this problem play a particularly important role, because the local food economy is heavily based not only on cereal cultivations aimed at animal feed but also on the production of derivatives to human nutrition. The aims of this research are the development of new bioactive molecules, obtained by natural molecules and metal ions, that are able to reduce the risk of food contamination by aflatoxin, but are harmless for environmental and health and the evaluation of the newly synthesized compounds using a battery of tests with different end-points to assess the toxic potential risk for environmental and human health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialities, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zani
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma.
authors.forename: Francesco Maria
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Restivo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Parma , Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carcelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Surgical Specialities, Radiological Sciences and Public Health, University of Brescia.
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feretti
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Parma , Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pelosi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Parma , Italy.
authors.forename: Dominga
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rogolino
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Degola
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Galati
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Parma , Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bisceglie
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, University of Parma.
authors.forename: Annamaria
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buschini
keywords: Aflatoxins; genotoxicity; human health; metal complexes; toxicity