COMBINED TOXICITY TESTING AND INFECTION MODEL

Toxicological assessment of food and feed (ingredients) and identification of natural antimicrobials

C. elegans under the microscope
Photo: Georg Sandner

Agar plate with pathogens
Photo: Georg Sandner

Pipetting qPCR plate
Photo: Georg Sandner

Food and feed safety is an omnipresent topic in our modern society. The number of testing substances is steadily increasing in multiple industries. Furthermore, foodborne contaminants or toxins must be avoided to ensure high quality products and consumer safety. However, current approaches are very time consuming, expensive, and animal trials result in ethical debates. Thus, it remains of great interest to seek for appropriate alternatives in this research field.

Here, in vitro cell culture and in vivo model organisms depict very interesting. Compared to animal trials, those systems remain comparably cheap, generate medium to high throughput and output data often correlates with animal trials. For example, the soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) provides great gene homology and conserved regulatory pathways compared to higher vertebrates. Therefore, results depict highly relevant for predictions of substance effects. Also, involved molecular pathways can be understood in greater detail.

Additionally, bacterial infections and antibiotic resistant microorganisms represent current issues in the food and feed industry. In this context, antibiotic growth promotors or the pharmacological use of zinc oxide were already banned by the EU, thereof increasing pressure on producers to seek for (natural) alternatives.

Thus, secondary plant metabolites (phytochemicals) gained more and more importance since they are generally known to provide anti-oxidative or anti-bacterial effects.

The aim of this work is the establishment of an animal infection model using C. elegans and a toxicity screening platform using simple eucaryote models. Combined synergistic or antagonistic effects of mycotoxins and fungicides on general cell fitness and epigenetic effects are tested in a high throughput approach. One goal is the detection of so far unrecorded combinatorial effects of substances which can either promote or antagonize the effects of a single compound. Furthermore, the nematode C. elegans is infected with relevant pathogens in the feed industry. Reliable output parameters will be identified to monitor bacterial infection and phytochemicals are screened as potential natural antimicrobials.

Lead Researcher:

FH-Prof. Priv.-Doz. Dr. Julian Weghuber

FFoQSI Area Leader GREEN

Head of Department
Food Technology and Nutrition, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria

julian.weghuber@fh-wels.at
+43 5 0804 44403
www.fh-ooe.at