Application of proteomics and metabolomics for investigation of food toxins

Fungi, bacteria and other organisms secrete into the extracellular environment numerous compounds that are required for their survival. The secreted proteins and the components of the translocation systems themselves can be scrutinized in-depth by the proteomic and other “omic” tools. Many of these secretion systems are involved in pathogenic processes and indicate mechanisms of pathogenesis and could as well be of great interest for the applications in food technology and biotechnology. Further improvements in existing and developing “omic” strategies and techniques will enable studies of fungal, plant and microorganism secretomes in order to build comprehensive and confident data sets of secreted proteins and other metabolites. Network of these components will lead to the increased understanding of interactions between the host and pathogen. The identification of proteins and small molecules that are produced by a still unknown pathogen will be the first step on the way of detection and further prevention of foodborne diseases. This perspective brings the opportunity to develop new targets in order to ensure food safety that is important for human health as well as for the agriculture, food processing and storage. Ensuring food safety in the future will require new methods for identification, monitoring and assessing of foodborne hazards during production, storage, delivery and consume. In present review the use of proteomics, peptidomics and metabolomics for determination of metabolic pathways and biomarkers of pathogenicity and resistance of biotoxins in the animal and plant food contamination is discussed. ► Use of "omics" strategies will enable studies of fungal, plant and microorganism secretoms. ► Building of comprehensive and confident data sets of secreted proteins and other toxins. ► Network of these products leads to understanding of interactions between the host and pathogen.