Screening of Bacillus bacterial strains with capability of degrading T-2 toxin

Abstract T-2 toxin (T-2) is a toxic fungal metabolite mainly produced by Fusarium species that are known to contaminate food products worldwide, posing serious risks to public health and the economy. Effective control of this toxin is therefore a key objective in food safety. Recent efforts to manage T-2 contamination have focused on utilizing microbes, especially bacterial species from the Bacillus genus, as promising toxin degraders. This study evaluated the in vitro capacity of ten Bacillus strains (BC1–10) in degrading T-2. Three out of ten strains demonstrated T-2 degradation activity, with complete toxin removal achieved within 96 hours under standard culture condition. The major biotransformation product of T-2 was isolated by high-performance liquid chromatography and structurally characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy as HT-2 toxin. Toxicity assessment in kidney-derived HEK293T cells showed that HT-2 was less toxic than T-2, with EC 50 values of 12.8 and 1.8 nM, respectively. The findings supported the potential application of selected Bacillus strains as functional microbial additives to mitigate T-2 contamination and toxicity.