Stefani Svaren Research Assistant School of Hospitality Business Management Washington State University Todd Hall 470 Pullman, WA 99164-4742 [email protected] Abstract This study analyzes the green practices of American hotels. As such, this study examines how eco-friendly, or green, hotels in the United States are in relation to no-cost or low-cost practices. Findings show that chain ho...

Aspergillus flavus is an efficient producer of mycotoxins, particularly aflatoxin B₁, probably the most hepatocarcinogenic naturally-occurring compound. Although the inducing agents of toxin synthesis are not unanimously identified, there is evidence that oxidative stress is one of the main actors in play. In our study, we use menadione, a quinone extensively implemented in studies on ROS respo...

Infection of maize both pre- and postharvest by Aspergillus flavus is a severe agricultural problem in the southern United States. Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by A. flavus and are carcinogenic to humans and animals upon ingestion. Extensive research has been conducted to identify sources of resistance to A. flavus in maize. Some maize genotypes exhibit greater resistance to A....

This study focused on AflSkn7, which is a stress response regulator in the aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus flavus. The ΔAflSkn7 mutants exhibited partially defective conidial formation and a complete inability to generate sclerotia, indicating AflSkn7 affects A. flavus asexual and sexual development. The mutants tolerated osmotic stress but were partially susceptible to the effects of cell wall...

Aspergillus flavus is a common saprophyte and opportunistic pathogen that produces numerous secondary metabolites. The primary objectives of the A. flavus genomics program are to reduce and eliminate aflatoxin contamination in food and feed and to discover genetic factors that contribute to plant and animal pathogenicity. A. flavus expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and whole-genome sequencing have...

The fungus Aspergillus flavus is responsible for producing carcinogenic mycotoxins, the aflatoxins, on corn (maize) and other crops. An additional harmful toxin, cyclopiazonic acid, is produced by some isolates of A. flavus. Several A. flavus strains that do not produce one or both of these mycotoxins are being used in biological control to competitively exclude the toxin-producing strains from...

Aspergillus flavus is one of the predominant causative organisms of mycotic keratitis in tropical parts of the world. Extracellular proteins are the earliest proteins that come in contact with the host and have a role in the infection process. Exoproteins of A. flavus isolated from infected cornea, sputum and a saprophyte were pooled and identified using high resolution mass spectrometry in ord...

Pseudomonas chlororaphis strain JP1015 and P. fluorescens strain JP2175 were previously isolated from Mississippi cornfield soil samples and selected for their growth inhibition of Aspergillus flavus in laboratory culture. In this study, the antifungal activity of these bacterial strains against A. flavus in soil coculture was determined. Growth of A. flavus was inhibited up to 100-fold by P. c...

Peanuts, cottonseed, rice, and sorghum from Texas were sampled over a 3-year period. To insure adequate isolation of alfatoxin-producing species of fungi, low-quality lots were sampled at a rate greater than their respective proportional representation. Aflatoxins were found each year in peanut and cottonseed and were found in 2 of 3 years in rice and sorghum. Aflatoxins were detected in all fo...

Aflatoxins, produced primarily by Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus, are among the most toxic and carcinogenic naturally occurring compounds. In an attempt to identify genes potentially involved in aflatoxin contamination of crops, and to better understand the biology of A. flavus, a large scale sequencing of A. flavus expressed sequence tags (EST) was conducted. The 5' ends of 26,110 cDNA ...