AUTHOR=Qu Su , Yang Kunlong , Chen Lei , Liu Man , Geng Qingru , He Xiaona , Li Yongxin , Liu Yongguo , Tian Jun 

TITLE=Cinnamaldehyde, a Promising Natural Preservative Against Aspergillus flavus

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2019.02895

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2019.02895

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The problem of food spoilage due to <italic>Aspergillus flavus</italic> (<italic>A. flavus</italic>) needs to be resolved. In this study, we found that the minimum inhibitory concentration of cinnamaldehyde (CA) that inhibited <italic>A. flavus</italic> was 0.065 mg/ml and that corn can be prevented from spoiling at a concentration of 0.13 mg/cm<sup>3</sup>. In addition to inhibiting spore germination, mycelial growth, and biomass production, CA can also reduce ergosterol synthesis and can cause cytomembrane damage. Our intention was to elucidate the antifungal mechanism of CA. Flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and western blot were used to reveal that different concentrations of CA can cause a series of apoptotic events in <italic>A. flavus</italic>, including elevated Ca<sup>2+</sup> and reactive oxygen species, decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψ<italic><sub><italic>m</italic></sub></italic>), the release of cytochrome c, the activation of metacaspase, phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization, and DNA damage. Moreover, CA significantly increased the expression levels of apoptosis-related genes (<italic>Mst3</italic>, <italic>Stm1</italic>, <italic>AMID</italic>, <italic>Yca1</italic>, <italic>DAP3</italic>, and <italic>HtrA2</italic>). In summary, our results indicate that CA is a promising antifungal agent for use in food preservation.</p>