Sun Keyu, Wang Ziwuzhen, Ye Shuhong
SKL of Marine Food Processing & Safety Control, School of Food Science and Technology, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, Liaoning 116034, China.
College of Food Science and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China; State Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Key Laboratory of Food Quality and Health of Tianjin, Tianjin 300457, PR China.
Food Res Int. 2025 Nov;219:117050. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2025.117050. Epub 2025 Jul 27.
Fungal toxin contamination presents significant hazards to agroecosystems and food safety. Penicillium expansum (P. expansum) emerges as a primary threat, damaging sweet cherries through spoilage and generating the hazardous mycotoxin patulin (PAT). Although Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE) is known for its antioxidant and antibacterial properties, its antifungal mechanisms against P. expansum remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the antifungal activity of GBE harvested at different phenological periods against postharvest P. expansum in sweet cherries and elucidated its underlying mechanisms. Non-targeted metabolomics identified flavonoids and ginkgolides may be as key bioactive compounds contributing to the differential antimicrobial potency of GBE. Notably, GBE-G3 (0.24 % GBE from green leaves) exhibited the strongest inhibitory effects, reducing spore germination by 81 % and mycelial growth by 91.43 %, accompanied by morphological alterations such as spore shrinkage and hyphal collapse. Sweet cherry experiments showed that 0.2 4 % GBE treatment reduced morbidity to 27.78 % and PAT content to 0.08 μg/g. Transcriptomic analysis further demonstrated that GBE-G3 disrupted cellular integrity by up-regulating organelle-related genes and down-regulating cell membrane/wall biosynthesis genes, which was validated by extracellular leakage of nucleic acids (1.61-fold), proteins (1.93-fold), and alkaline phosphatase (4.96-fold). Additionally, GBE-G3 suppressed the expression of PAT biosynthetic enzymes (PePatB, PePatH, and PePatK), transcriptional regulators (PePatL), and virulence-associated transporters, indicating a dual inhibitory effect on both fungal growth and toxin production. Finding revealed that GBE exerted antifungal activity through membrane disruption and transcriptional modulation of PAT-related pathways, providing a novel strategy for controlling P. expansum contamination in agro-food systems.
真菌毒素污染对农业生态系统和食品安全构成重大危害。扩展青霉（Penicillium expansum，P. expansum）成为主要威胁，通过腐败损害甜樱桃并产生有害霉菌毒素棒曲霉素（PAT）。尽管银杏叶提取物（GBE）以其抗氧化和抗菌特性而闻名，但其对扩展青霉的抗真菌机制仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们研究了不同物候期收获的GBE对甜樱桃采后扩展青霉的抗真菌活性，并阐明了其潜在机制。非靶向代谢组学鉴定出黄酮类化合物和银杏内酯可能是导致GBE抗菌效力差异的关键生物活性化合物。值得注意的是，GBE-G3（来自绿叶的0.24%GBE）表现出最强的抑制作用，使孢子萌发率降低81%，菌丝生长率降低91.43%，同时伴有孢子收缩和菌丝坍塌等形态变化。甜樱桃实验表明，0.24%GBE处理可将发病率降低至27.78%，PAT含量降低至0.08μg/g。转录组分析进一步表明，GBE-G3通过上调细胞器相关基因和下调细胞膜/细胞壁生物合成基因来破坏细胞完整性，这通过核酸（1.61倍）、蛋白质（1.93倍）和碱性磷酸酶（4.96倍）的细胞外泄漏得到验证。此外，GBE-G3抑制了PAT生物合成酶（PePatB、PePatH和PePatK）、转录调节因子（PePatL）和毒力相关转运蛋白的表达，表明对真菌生长和毒素产生具有双重抑制作用。研究结果表明，GBE通过破坏细胞膜和对PAT相关途径的转录调控发挥抗真菌活性，为控制农业食品系统中的扩展青霉污染提供了一种新策略。
