Comparison of soil and corn kernel Aspergillus flavus populations: evidence for niche specialization

Non-aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus to prevent aflatoxin contamination in crops: advantages and limitations

Aspergillus flavus is a diverse assemblage of strains that include aflatoxin-producing and non-toxigenic strains with cosmopolitan distribution. The most promising strategy currently being used to reduce preharvest contamination of crops with aflatoxin is to introduce non-aflatoxin (biocontrol) A. flavus into the crop environment. Whether or not introduction of biocontrol strains into agricultural fields is enough to reduce aflatoxin contamination to levels required for acceptance of the contaminated food as fit for consumption is still unknown. There is no question that biocontrol strains are able to reduce the size of the populations of aflatoxin-producing strains but the available data suggests that at most only a four- to five-fold reduction in aflatoxin contamination is achieved. There are many challenges facing this strategy that are both short term and long term. First, the population biology of A. flavus is not well understood due in part to A. flavus's diversity, its ability to form heterokaryotic reproductive forms, and its unknown ability to survive for prolonged periods after application. Second, biocontrol strains must be selected that are suitable for the environment, the type of crop, and the soil into which they will be introduced. Third, there is a need to guard against inadvertent introduction of A. flavus strains that could impose an additional burden on food safety and food quality, and fourth, with global warming and resultant changes in the soil nutrients and concomitant microbiome populations, the biocontrol strategy must be sufficiently flexible to adapt to such changes. Understanding genetic variation within strains of A. flavus is important for developing a robust biocontrol strategy and it is unlikely that a "one size fits all" strategy will work for preharvest aflatoxin reduction.

Sexual reproduction in Aspergillus flavus sclerotia naturally produced in corn

Aspergillus flavus is the major producer of carcinogenic aflatoxins worldwide in crops. Populations of A. flavus are characterized by high genetic variation and the source of this variation is likely sexual reproduction. The fungus is heterothallic and laboratory crosses produce ascospore-bearing ascocarps embedded within sclerotia. However, the capacity for sexual reproduction in sclerotia naturally formed in crops has not been examined. Corn was grown for 3 years under different levels of drought stress at Shellman, GA, and sclerotia were recovered from 146 ears (0.6% of ears). Sclerotia of A. flavus L strain were dominant in 2010 and 2011 and sclerotia of A. flavus S strain were dominant in 2012. The incidence of S strain sclerotia in corn ears increased with decreasing water availability. Ascocarps were not detected in sclerotia at harvest but incubation of sclerotia on the surface of nonsterile soil in the laboratory resulted in the formation of viable ascospores in A. flavus L and S strains and in homothallic A. alliaceus. Ascospores were produced by section Flavi species in 6.1% of the 6,022 sclerotia (18 of 84 ears) in 2010, 0.1% of the 2,846 sclerotia (3 of 36 ears) in 2011, and 0.5% of the 3,106 sclerotia (5 of 26 ears) in 2012. For sexual reproduction to occur under field conditions, sclerotia may require an additional incubation period on soil following dispersal at crop harvest.

Two new aflatoxin producing species, and an overview of Aspergillus section Flavi

Aspergillus subgenus Circumdati section Flavi includes species with usually biseriate conidial heads, in shades of yellow-green to brown, and dark sclerotia. Several species assigned to this section are either important mycotoxin producers including aflatoxins, cyclopiazonic acid, ochratoxins and kojic acid, or are used in oriental food fermentation processes and as hosts for heterologous gene expression. A polyphasic approach was applied using morphological characters, extrolite data and partial calmodulin, β-tubulin and ITS sequences to examine the evolutionary relationships within this section. The data indicate that Aspergillus section Flavi involves 22 species, which can be grouped into seven clades. Two new species, A. pseudocaelatus sp. nov. and A. pseudonomius sp. nov. have been discovered, and can be distinguished from other species in this section based on sequence data and extrolite profiles. Aspergillus pseudocaelatus is represented by a single isolate collected from Arachis burkartii leaf in Argentina, is closely related to the non-aflatoxin producing A. caelatus, and produces aflatoxins B & G, cyclopiazonic acid and kojic acid, while A. pseudonomius was isolated from insects and soil in the USA. This species is related to A. nomius, and produces aflatoxin B(1) (but not G-type aflatoxins), chrysogine and kojic acid. In order to prove the aflatoxin producing abilities of the isolates, phylogenetic analysis of three genes taking part in aflatoxin biosynthesis, including the transcriptional regulator aflR, norsolonic acid reductase and O-methyltransferase were also carried out. A detailed overview of the species accepted in Aspergillus section Flavi is presented.