Emerging mycotoxins in botanicals: benefit and risk

Background: Fusarium species are responsible for production of emerging mycotoxins with cyclic hexadepsispeptides structures, like enniatins and beauvericin. Although these mycotoxins have not been regulated yet, their high prevalence in food and feed, as well as their potential toxic effects in humans and animals have made of them a burning issue and a threat to food security. Besides its inophoric properties, these mycotoxins may induce cells damages such as oxidative stress, mitochondrial modifications and the disruption on the cell cycle related to several health adverse effects such as immunotoxicity, genotoxicity, endocrine toxicity and neurotoxicity. Moreover, they showed interesting activity against various microorganisms and insects in several studies, leading to a potential use in pesticide and medicine research, as potential candidates for anticancer therapy. Botanicals can go contaminated by mycotoxins when the harvesting practices or manufacturing conditions are inadequate, which make mandatory their study. Methods: This review explores emerging mycotoxins occurrence in several botanicals forms and discuss their possible prejudicial and beneficial effects. Results: Several researchers have reported mycotoxins occurrence at low incidences and levels in botanicals. Despite emerging mycotoxins toxic effects, beneficial properties have been attributed to these mycotoxins by several authors. These compounds are related to insecticidal activity, antibacterial properties, and antifungal and antiviral activities. Cell organelles or enzyme systems are the targets in its antimicrobial activity. Data collected showed also that emerging mycotoxins are involved in capacity of the multidrug transport protein in human cancer cells modulation and apoptotic cell death induction, several researchers are explaining the possibility to employ them with medicinal purpose. Conclusion: More studies are required to explore enniatins and beauvericin possible applications in medicinal and pesticide research. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the regulation of emerging mycotoxins in food must be revised and updated.