The inoculation of Aspergillus flavus spores into a culture of Streptococcus lactis in LTB medium resulted in none or little aflatoxin production even though growth of the fungus was not hindered. The drop in pH and reduced nutrients in the medium as the result of S. lactis growth were not the cause of the observed inhibition. The inhibition was not eliminated by the addition of carbohydrate equal to the amount utilized by the bacterium prior to the inoculation with the fungus. Aflatoxin production was also inhibited when S. lactis was inoculated after A. flavus had grown. In addition to inhibiting the synthesis of aflatoxin, S. lactis also degraded pre-formed toxin. Aflatoxin, on the other hand, not only reduced the growth of S. lactis but also affected the morphology of the bacterial cell--the cells became elongated and formed long chains. / S. lactis produced and excreted the inhibitor into the medium during the early stage of growth (4 h). The inhibitor was a heat stable low molecular weight compound (MW (LESSTHEQ) 500). Neither volatile (acetic) nor non-volatile (succinic and lactic) acids which were detected in extracts containing the inhibitor were responsible for this inhibition. Lactic acid was found in larger quantities in mixed cultures and its addition to mono fungus culture was found to stimulate aflatoxin production. Chloroform: methanol extraction of the S. lactis culture filtrate removed all the activity to the organic phase. Further, the active compound was insoluble in hexane, not extracted by sodium bicarbonate and was soluble in acetone, indicating a polar lipid. Autoradiographic studies showed that the inhibitor was a product of glucose metabolism. Further characterization indicated that the inhibitor was a phosphoglycolipid containing an aromatic ring structure. / Filtrate extracts of A. flavus grown in presence of S. lactis were toxic to Bacillus megaterium but did not exhibit mutagenic or carcinogenic activity in the Salmonella/Mammalian microsome mutagenicity test.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.77143 |
| Date | January 1981 |
| Creators | Coallier-Ascah, Josée. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Microbiology) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000593634, proquestno: AAINK58070, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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