When autoclaved yeast cells, either free or entrapped in calcium alginate
were added to OTA-amended grape juice, a significant reduction
(from 17.4 to 3.3–2.9 μg/kg, respectively, corresponding to N80% reduction;
P ≤ 0.05) of the total mycotoxin content was observed after 48 h of
incubation (Fig. 3). OTA decrease following treatment with free or
immobilised living cells was less evident (from 17.4 to 5.1–5.0, respectively,
corresponding to approximately 70% reduction; P ≤ 0.05). These
results suggest that encapsulation in alginate beads does not prevent
adsorption of OTA by the yeast cell wall proteins, while autoclaving improves
OTA-adsorption properties of the tested yeast significantly, as
previously observed by testing four strains belonging to different yeast
species (Fiori et al., 2014).