Differentiation and secondary metabolism are correlated processes in fungi that respond to light. In
Aspergillus nidulans
, light inhibits sexual reproduction as well as secondary metabolism. We identified
the heterotrimeric
velvet
complex VelB/VeA/LaeA connecting light-responding developmental
regulation and control of secondary metabolism. VeA, which is primarily expressed in the dark,
physically interacts with VelB, which is expressed during sexual development. VeA bridges VelB to the
nuclear master regulator of secondary metabolism, LaeA. Deletion of either
velB
or
veA
results in
defects in both sexual fruiting-body formation and the production of secondary metabolites.

VelB/VeA/LaeA Complex CoordinatesLight Signal with Fungal Developmentand Secondary Metabolism

Mycotoxins are toxic substances that can infect many foods with carcinogenic, genotoxic, teratogenic, nephrotoxic, and hepatotoxic effects. Mycotoxin contamination of foodstuffs causes diseases worldwide. The major classes of mycotoxins that are of the greatest agroeconomic importance are aflatoxins, ochratoxins, fumonisins, trichothecenes, emerging Fusarium mycotoxins, enniatins, ergot alkaloids, Alternaria toxins, and patulin. Thus, in order to mitigate mycotoxin contamination of foods, many control approaches are used. Prevention, detoxification, and decontamination of mycotoxins can contribute in this purpose in the pre-harvest and post-harvest stages. Therefore, the purpose of the review is to elaborate on the recent advances regarding the occurrence of main mycotoxins in many types of important agricultural products, as well as the methods of inactivation and detoxification of foods from mycotoxins in order to reduce or fully eliminate them.

/pdf/advances-in-occurrence-importance-and-mycotoxin-control-4cjaesthg6.pdf

Advances in Occurrence, Importance, and Mycotoxin Control Strategies: Prevention and Detoxification in Foods.

A review of cinnamaldehyde and its derivatives as antibacterial agents.

Ochratoxins are a group of mycotoxins produced by a variety of moulds. Ochratoxin A (OTA), the most prominent member of this toxin family, was first described by van der Merwe et al. in Nature in 1965. Dietary exposure to OTA represents a serious health issue and has been associated with several human and animal diseases including poultry ochratoxicosis, porcine nephropathy, human endemic nephropathies and urinary tract tumours in humans. More than 30 years ago, OTA was shown to be carcinogenic in rodents and since then extensive research has been performed in order to investigate its mode of action, however, this is still under debate. OTA is regarded as the most toxic family member, however, other ochratoxins or their metabolites and, in particular, ochratoxin mixtures or combinations with other mycotoxins may represent serious threats to human and animal health. This review summarises and evaluates current knowledge about the differential and comparative toxicity of the ochratoxin group.

/pdf/comparative-ochratoxin-toxicity-a-review-of-the-available-vap1128d1b.pdf

Comparative Ochratoxin Toxicity: A Review of the Available Data.

Aflatoxins produced by the Aspergillus species are highly toxic, carcinogenic, and cause severe contamination to food sources, leading to serious health consequences. Contaminations by aflatoxins have been reported in food and feed, such as groundnuts, millet, sesame seeds, maize, wheat, rice, fig, spices and cocoa due to fungal infection during pre- and post-harvest conditions. Besides these food products, commercial products like peanut butter, cooking oil and cosmetics have also been reported to be contaminated by aflatoxins. Even a low concentration of aflatoxins is hazardous for human and livestock. The identification and quantification of aflatoxins in food and feed is a major challenge to guarantee food safety. Therefore, developing feasible, sensitive and robust analytical methods is paramount for the identification and quantification of aflatoxins present in low concentrations in food and feed. There are various chromatographic and sensor-based methods used for the detection of aflatoxins. The current review provides insight into the sources of contamination, occurrence, detection techniques, and masked mycotoxin, in addition to management strategies of aflatoxins to ensure food safety and security.

/pdf/aflatoxins-in-food-and-feed-an-overview-on-prevalence-1sh8oa6frc.pdf

Aflatoxins in Food and Feed: An Overview on Prevalence, Detection and Control Strategies.

Ochratoxin A (OTA), mainly produced by Aspergillus and Penicillum species, is one of the most important mycotoxin contaminants in agricultural products. It is detrimental to human health because of its nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity, teratogenicity, and immunosuppression. OTA structurally consists of adihydrocoumarin moiety linked with l-phenylalanine via an amide bond. OTA biosynthesis has been putatively hypothesized, although several contradictions exist on some processes of the biosynthetic pathway. We discuss recent information on molecular studies of OTA biosynthesis despite insufficient genetic background in detail. Accordingly, genetic regulation has also been explored with regard to the interaction between the regulators and the environmental factors. In this review, we focus on three aspects of OTA: OTA-producing strains, OTA biosynthetic pathway and the regulation mechanisms of OTA production. This can pave the way to assist in protecting food and feed from OTA contamination by understanding OTA biosynthetic pathway and regulatory mechanisms.

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/8/3/83/pdf

Ochratoxin A Producing Fungi, Biosynthetic Pathway and Regulatory Mechanisms.

Peanut pods are easily infected by aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus sp.ecies from field soil. To assess the aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus sp. in different peanut field soils, 344 aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus strains were isolated from 600 soil samples of four agroecological zones in China (the Southeast coastal zone (SEC), the Yangtze River zone (YZR), the Yellow River zone (YR) and the Northeast zone (NE)). Nearly 94.2% (324/344) of strains were A. flavus and 5.8% (20/344) of strains were A. parasiticus. YZR had the highest population density of Aspergillus sp. and positive rate of aflatoxin production in isolated strains (1039.3 cfu·g-1, 80.7%), the second was SEC (191.5 cfu·g-1, 48.7%), the third was YR (26.5 cfu·g-1, 22.7%), and the last was NE (2.4 cfu·g-1, 6.6%). The highest risk of AFB₁ contamination on peanut was in YZR which had the largest number of AFB₁ producing isolates in 1g soil, followed by SEC and YR, and the lowest was NE. The potential risk of AFB₁ contamination in peanuts can increase with increasing population density and a positive rate of aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus sp. in field soils, suggesting that reducing aflatoxigenic Aspergillus sp. in field soils could prevent AFB₁ contamination in peanuts.

A Survey of Aflatoxin-Producing Aspergillus sp. from Peanut Field Soils in Four Agroecological Zones of China

Interaction of water activity and temperature on the growth, gene expression and aflatoxin production by Aspergillus flavus on paddy and polished rice.

The contamination of Aspergillus flavus and subsequent aflatoxins (AFs) has been considered as one of the most serious food safety problems due to their acute and chronic adverse effects on humans and animals. This review collects the available information from recent years on the effect of the major environmental factors such as water activity (aw), temperature, CO2, and pH on the fungal growth, the expression of AFs-related genes, and AFs production by A. flavus on foods. In particular, the relationship between the relative expression of key regulatory (aflR and aflS) and structural genes (aflD, aflO, aflQ, etc.) and AFs production under different environmental conditions are collected and discussed. The information collected in this review can be used to design control strategies of A. flavus and AFs contamination in practical applications, primarily during storage and processing. These data suggest that integrating various post-harvest methods with synergistic functions may be more efficient for the control of A. flavus growth and AFs production, although the individual environmental factors alone have an impact.

/pdf/recent-progress-of-the-effect-of-environmental-factors-on-3u529srk23.pdf

Recent progress of the effect of environmental factors on Aspergillus flavus growth and aflatoxins production on foods

Because of global warming and changes in farming systems, Fusarium head blight has gradually spread towards high-latitude regions such as Northwestern China. A survey was conducted to assess the prevalence and concentration of deoxynivalenol (DON) in wheat harvested during 2013 from the Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, and Xinjiang provinces in China. DON concentration in 181 wheat samples was analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography combined with ultraviolet detection. Of the wheat samples, 82.9% were contaminated with DON, with a mean DON concentration of 500 μg/kg. According to the Chinese standard limits for DON, 10% of the positive samples were above the maximum limit of 1000 μg/kg. Regions with higher humidity showed higher levels of DON in the wheat samples. These results show the necessity of raising awareness of DON contamination in people from Northwestern China to protect their health from the risk of exposure to DON.

Deoxynivalenol in wheat from the Northwestern region in China.

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