Author(s)

Elsa Rouah, Walid Maho, Jaytry Mehta, Sarah De Saeger, Adrian Covaci, Bieke Van Dorst, Ronny Blust, Johan Robbens

Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Oostende, Belgium.
Laboratory of Systemic Physiological and Toxicological Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Laboratory of Systemic Physiological and Toxicological Research, Department of Biology,University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Toxicological Center, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.

Ergot alkaloids are mycotoxins which can be found in food based on cereal-crops, due to a contamination of plants by fungi of the genus Claviceps. The ingestion of ergot contaminated cereal crops can lead to a severe poisoning known as ergotism. For food and feed safety purposes, the extraction of ergot alkaloids from ergot contaminated flour was investigated. For the specific recognition of ergot alkaloids, DNA aptamer ligands specially selected for ergot alkaloids were grafted onto silica gel in order to construct a specific solid phase extraction system. The aptamer-functionalized silica gels were used to extract ergot alkaloids from a contaminated rye feed sample. The presence of ergot alkaloids eluted from the aptamer-functionalized silica gels was analyzed using LC-QTOF-MS. By using this simple system, it was possible to specifically extract ergosine, ergokryptine and ergocornine from an ergot contaminated rye feed sample. This aptamer-based extraction tool shows the applicability of aptamers for the specific extraction of toxins or natural compounds from turbid matrices in a one-step procedure.

Single-Stranded Nucleic Acid Aptamer, Aptamer-Functionalized Silica Gel, Ergosine, Ergokryptine, Ergocornine

Rouah-Martin, E. , Maho, W. , Mehta, J. , De-Saeger, S. , Covaci, A. , Van Dorst, B. , Blust, R. and Robbens, J. (2014) Aptamer-Based Extraction of Ergot Alkaloids from Ergot Contaminated Rye Feed. Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology, 5, 692-698. doi: 10.4236/abb.2014.58082.