A BIOASSAY FOR COMPARISON OF THE TOXICITY OF TRICHOTHECENES AND THEIRMICROBIAL METABOLITES

Screening for trichothecene detoxifying microorganisms demands a lot o f mycotoxin analysis. To enable a large scale screening a rapid bioass ay for measuring the remaining toxicity in supernatants of microbial c ultures was established. In this studies toxicity of trichothecenes an d their microbial metabolites was tested in 96 well titer-plates by gr owth inhibition of yeast cells. The decrease of toxicity during aerobi c incubation experiments was shown. Results of the assay were compared with data obtained from HPLC analysis. This optimized test for 96 wel l titer plates is applicable for a rapid toxicity testing of trichothe cenes and for the screening of toxicity decrease in detoxification exp eriments, because no extraction or clean up is necessary at all. A lar ge number of samples can be analyzed within a short time.