Fusarium fungal contaminants and related mycotoxins were investigated in eight maize feed samples submitted to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Fusarium moniliforme, F. proliferatum, and F. subglutinans were isolated from seven, eight, and five samples, respectively. These strains belonged to mating populations A, D, and E of the teleomorph Gibberella fujikuroi. Fusap...

Insects cause many other forms of damage when they feed on parts of the corn plant, including breakage of the plant, eardrop and kernel damage. Damaged kernels can lead to growth of fungi, which may produce biologically active compounds called mycotoxins (e.g. aflatoxin, fumonisin). Dependent upon their accumulation in kernels, mycotoxins pose a potential threat to human and animal health if co...

Each year, mycotoxins cause economic losses of several billion US dollars worldwide. Consequently, methods must be developed, for producers and cereal manufacturers, to detect these toxins and to comply with regulations. Chromatographic reference methods are time consuming and costly. Thus, alternative methods such as infrared spectroscopy are being increasingly developed to provide simple, rap...

Along the Texas-Mexico border, the prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs) among Mexican-American women doubled during 1990-1991. The human outbreak began during the same crop year as epizootics attributed to exposure to fumonisin, a mycotoxin that often contaminates corn. Because Mexican Americans in Texas consume large quantities of corn, primarily in the form of tortillas, they may be expos...

AIMS We propose and test an efficient and rapid protocol for the detection of toxigenic Fusarium isolates producing three main types of Fusarium-associated mycotoxins (fumonisins, trichothecenes and zearelanone). METHODS AND RESULTS The novel approach utilizes partially multiplexed markers based on genes essential for mycotoxin biosynthesis (fumonisin--fum6, fum8; trichothecenes--tri5, tri6; ...

Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites that globally contaminate an estimated 25 % of cereal crops and thus exposure is frequent in many populations. Aflatoxins, fumonisins and deoxynivalenol are amongst those mycotoxins of particular concern from a human health perspective. A number of risks to health are suggested including cancer, growth faltering, immune suppression and neural tube defe...

Fusarium verticillioides (teleomorph Gibberella moniliformis) can be either an endophyte of maize, causing no visible disease, or a pathogen-causing disease of ears, stalks, roots and seedlings. At any stage, this fungus can synthesize fumonisins, a family of mycotoxins structurally similar to the sphingolipid sphinganine. Ingestion of fumonisin-contaminated maize has been associated with a num...

A multiplex chemiluminescent biosensor for simple, rapid and ultrasensitive on-site quantification of aflatoxin B1 and type B-fumonisins in maize samples has been developed. The biosensor integrates a multiplex indirect competitive lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) based on enzyme-catalyzed chemiluminescence detection and a highly sensitive portable charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, employed in...

Forty five finished poultry feed samples, collected from different broilers, broiler breeders and layers farms were divided into two parts, for mycological and mycotoxins examination. In counting of molds, dilute plate technique was used, whereas feed parts were used for mycotoxin estimation, they were subjected to four standard kits of Aflatoxin, Ochratoxin, T-2 toxin and Fumonisins. Mold coun...

Puerh tea is a unique Chinese fermented tea. Unlike other teas it is stored for a long period of time. Aspergillus niger is claimed to be the dominant microorganism in the Puerh tea manufacturing process and also to be common on tea in general. A. niger sensu stricto is known to produce the mycotoxins ochratoxin A, fumonisins B(2) and B(4). With this in mind, we performed a preliminary study to...