Biocontrol Activities of Bacillus megaterium Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Against Mycotoxigenic Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium fungi

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites that are produced by toxigenic fungi once the temperature and humidity are appropriate. Mycotoxins are known to have adverse health effects. There are chemical, physical, thermal and biological tools for controlling fungi. Biological control tools are one of the recent to be investigated for inhibiting the growth of mycotoxigenic fungi. In this project, the effect of volatile organic compounds produced by a Qatari Bacillus megaterium (QBM344-1) on the growth and mycotoxin production of toxigenic fungi from the genera of Aspergillus, Fusarium and Penicillium. Our findings demonstrate that Bacillus has a great potential in controlling the mycotoxigenic fungi by the production volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In addition, the VOCs of B. megaterium has shown a significant effect in the inhibition of the mycotoxin's synthesis such as aflatoxins, fumonisins and ochratoxins by various mycotoxigenic fungal species (A. flavus, F. verticillioides and P. verrucosum). Interestingly, many VOCs produced by B. megaterium were detected in GC-MS/MS including nitropropane which is known to possess an antifungal compound as peer to many studies. The findings of our project are substantial for the agricultural and food security future use since B. megaterium is considered as a safe bacterium that exists naturally in the soil. The bacterial volatiles identified includes nitropropane which is a known antifungal compound