2.2.1. Aflatoxin B1 Binding Capacities of *Enterococcus* Strains

Twenty *Enterococcus* strains from our lactic acid bacterium culture collection were selected for this study. One strain belonged to *E. casseliflavus*, 4 to *E. faecalis*, 1 to *E. faecium*, 6 to *E. hirae*, 3 to *E. lactis*, and 4 to *E. mundtii*. Two strains had higher AFB1 binding ability, *E. hirae* AT12 and *E. lactis* SK34 with 4.62% and 3.40%, respectively, for the other strains, the binding was below 1.61% (Figure 3). Regarding species, the best average AFB1 binding capacities were also obtained for species *E. lactis* and *E. hirae*, though for these two species, the standard deviations were higher than for the other species studied (Table 1). Juri et al. [36] found much higher AFB1 binding percentages for *Enterococcus faecium* GJ40 with 24–27% and 17–24%, and *E. faecium* MF4 with 36–42% and 27–32% at 0.05 and 0.10 µg/mL, respectively. The stability of those bacteria-AFB1 complexes formed was found to be high, up to 50% of AFB1 remained bound in bacterial cell after three washes with phosphate buffered saline. These differences in the results might be explained by the different strains or cultivation parameters and methods used in the studies; for example, in most studies, the bound mycotoxin concentration is calculated from the mycotoxin content remaining in the supernatant of the culture suspension, while in our investigations, the mycotoxin content of the biomass was determined directly.

**Figure 3.** AFB1 binding capacities of *Enterococcus* strains at 0.2 µg/mL mycotoxin concentration in MRS broth.


