Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are biologically active molecules that can eradicate bacteria by destroying the bacterial membrane structure, causing the bacteria to rupture. However, little is known about the extent and effect of AMPs on filamentous fungi. In this study, we synthesized small molecular polypeptides by an inexpensive heat conjugation approach and examined their effects on the growth of Aspergillus flavus and its secondary metabolism. The antimicrobial agents significantly inhibited aflatoxin production, conidiation, and sclerotia formation in A. flavus . Furthermore, we found that the expression of aflatoxin structural genes was significantly inhibited, and the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was reduced. Additionally, the antimicrobial agents can change membrane permeability. Overall, our results demonstrated that antimicrobial agents, safe to mammalian cells, have an obvious impact on aflatoxin production, which indicated that antimicrobial agents may be adopted as a new generation of potential agents for controlling aflatoxin contamination.

中文翻译：

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合成抗菌剂抑制黄曲霉毒素的产生

抗菌肽 (AMPs) 是一种具有生物活性的分子，可以通过破坏细菌膜结构来消灭细菌，导致细菌破裂。然而，关于 AMP 对丝状真菌的程度和影响知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们通过廉价的热共轭方法合成了小分子多肽，并检查了它们对黄曲霉生长及其次级代谢的影响。抗微生物剂显着抑制黄曲霉中黄曲霉毒素的产生、分生孢子和菌核的形成。此外，我们发现黄曲霉毒素结构基因的表达被显着抑制，细胞内活性氧（ROS）水平降低。此外，抗微生物剂可以改变膜的渗透性。全面的，