Further Studies on Toxin Detection Based on the CO2 Production by Yeast

摘要

Previous studies had shown that certain trichothecene toxins could be detected, in microgram amounts, with baker's yeast as a test organism in a procedure which provided measurements of the CO2 production rates of the test cultures. The present report concerns refinements of the method and the use of a different yeast, Kluyveromyces fragilis, to provide a more sensitive and more rapid detection method for these toxins. The gas exchange method has been modified to include a much higher CO2-stripping rate which greatly decreases the time required to detect the toxins. With the new method the minimum detectable amounts of T-2, roridin, and verrucarin are 0.2, 0.25, and 0.06 micrograms, respectively. The times required for detecting these minimal amounts are somewhat less than an hour; however, for amounts just slightly higher than these the detection times are only 3-5 minutes. Because of the all-or-nothing effects of trichothecenes on the CO2 production rates of yeast, the method is not suitable for making a dose response curve. Its positive aspect is the speed with which it shows the presence of a toxin.