ISSN: 0854-6177 Indonesian Food and Nutrition Progress, 2017, Vol. 14, Issue 1 1 Available online at http://journal.ugm.ac.id/jifnp Indonesian Food and Nutrition Progress, 2017, Vol. 14, Issue 1 Binding of Aflatoxin B 1 to Lactobacillus paracasei SNP-2 and Stability of Bacteria-AFB 1 Complex Rohula Utami 1) , Tyas Utami 2) , Suparmo 2) , Endang S Rahayu 2*) 1) Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta, Indonesia 2) Department of Food and Agricultural Product Technology, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia *) Corresponding author, email address: endangsrahayu@ugm.ac.id Received 21 Jan 2017; Accepted 12 May 2017; Published Online 15 May 2017 Abstract The aim of this research was to study the binding ability of viable and non-viable of Lactobacillus paracasei SNP-2 to aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) at pH 7.3. Bacterial cells were grown in MRS broth at 37 °C for 24 h, and then centrifuged at 1,800 g for 20 min at 10°C to get the pellet. Pellet was suspended in PBS pH 7.3 until the cell concentration was about 10 10 CFU/mL. Viable cells, the heated, and acid-killed cells were evaluated for their ability to bind AFB 1 in PBS pH 7.3. Stability of the L. paracasei SNP-2/AFB 1 complexes was evaluated by determining the amount of the released AFB 1 to the PBS following five times washing. The results showed that AFB 1 binding ability to heated-and acid-killed bacteria were higher than that of by viable cells. More than 70% of bound AFB 1 was released from viable bacteria after five times washing. However, the heated and acid-killed cell treatments significantly increased the complex stability of bacteria-AFB 1 . Keywords: Aflatoxin B 1 , Lactobacillus paracasei SNP-2, binding of AFB 1 , peptidoglycan Introduction Aflatoxins are fungal secondary metabolites produced by toxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, and A. nomius. Aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) is regarded as the most prevalent form and also the most potent of these toxins. Aflatoxins commonly contaminate foods and feed including corn, peanuts, and tree nuts at any stage during growth, harvest, storage, and transportation (Rahayu et al., 2003; Dharmaputra et al., 2005). Aflatoxins are of great concern because of their detrimental effects on the health of humans and animals, including hepatotoxic, carcinogenic, immuno-suppressive and anti- nutritional effects (William et al., 2004). Various attempts have been made to develop physical and chemical methods either to remove aflatoxins from contaminated foods and feeds or to degrade toxin present into less toxic compounds (Samarajeewa et al., 1990). Physical approaches to aflatoxin destruction have been done including treating with heat, UV light, or ionizing radiation. These methods are not very effective. Chemical degradations of aflatoxin are usually carried out by the addition of chlorinating, oxidizing or hydrolytic agents. Chemical treatments require expensive equipment and may result in losses of nutritional quality of treated commodities. In addition, the