In silico approximation to aflatoxin B 1 metabolism and sensitivity in commercial poultry species based on empirical mathematical equations.

Enzyme kinetic parameters for aflatoxin B ₁ metabolism have been reported for chicken, quail, turkey and duck, but an integrated in silico model has not been proposed. Both enzyme-catalyzed reactions and spontaneous reactions were modeled in the CellDesigner software and results were adjusted to Hill, Rational and Hoerl models. Results revealed that the higher amount of aflatoxin B ₁ epoxide produced in a short lapse of time and a low production of epoxide conjugated to glutathione explains the severe genotoxic effect of aflatoxin B ₁ in duck. Also, the higher amount of aflatoxicol produced is time-associated to aflatoxin B ₁ resistance in chicken. Finally, the cytotoxic effects in quail and duck are caused by a large aflatoxin B ₁ dialdehyde production in a short period of time.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(© 2024 The Authors.)