Proprietes antibacteriennes et genotoxiques de 33 mycotoxines

Most of the 33 fungal metabolites tested provoke:

1. Bacterial growth inhibition of Bacillus thuringiensis similar to lethal effect of antibiotics.
2. Positive response in the ‘Rec’ assay using strains of Bacillus subtilis; this fact shows that these toxins are DNA modifying agents.
3. Enlargement of cell volume in the first bacteria species; this cell-abnormality induction resembles those obtained with mitomycin C.

Correlation between elongation of cells (filamentation) and in vivo carcinogenicity of mycotoxins is discussed. The filamentation should be an expression of a perturbated DNA replication (S.O.S.-error prone repair) as the consequence of DNA damages induced by genotoxic agents (i.e. carcinogens).