Aspergillus flavus

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Aspergillus Flavus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Fungi Phylum: Ascomycota Class: Eurotiomycetes Order: Eurotiales Family: Trichocomaceae Genus: Aspergillus Species: A. flavus
Binomial name
Aspergillus flavus

Description and significance

Aspergillus flavus is a haploid filamentous fungi. It produces a mycotoxin called aflatoxin B that is carcinogenic. It causes liver damage and is one of the mycotoxins used as a biologcal weapon. When crops are infected with A. flavus their value decreases because of the potential human or animal exposure to the aflatoxin. A. flavus is mainly a saprophyte, meaning it obtains its nutrients from dead or decaying material, but it can also be a pathogen to plants and animals including humans.

Pathology

A. flavus is an opportunistic pathogen, which allows it to infect animals, humans and plants. It is not virulent in healthy viable tissues. A. flavus targets seeds with poor viability. It infects seeds by entering through wounds and holes from which insect larval have exited, and by entering from the vascular tissue. A. flavus can infect plants through thier seeds or by being carried to the surface of the plant by insects or wind. Also it can be colonized but not infected until the plant is matured. A. flavus infects cotton by entering from natural openings and traveling up into the boll. In the boll the fungus can be there for twenty five days, not infecting the boll until matures. In peanuts the fungus can infect seeds as well as the nuts by penetrating the pods that peanuts grow in.

In animals including humans A. flavus is associated with aflatoxicosis. Symptoms of aflatoxicosis in humans are abdominal pain, vomiting, pulmonary edema, convulsions, coma, liver damage, and death. In animals symptoms include liver damage, death, anemia, immune suppression, gastrointestinal dysfunction, a decrease in milk production, egg production, reproduction, and feed consumption. In Humans who eating foods with low amounts of aflatoxin over a long period of time can cause cancer. Eating foods with high amounts of aflatoxin can cause acute or chronic toxicity. Symptoms of chronic toxicity include decrease in growth rate, lowered milk or egg production, immunosuppression, jaundice and a swollen gall bladder. When A. flavus is inhaled it can cause aspergillosis, a secondary respiratory infection in immuno-compromised patients. Aspergillosis can cause illness in three ways, pulmonary aspergillosis is an allergic reaction in people who have asthma, as a fungus ball called aspergilloma in scarred lung tissue or as infections that spread to other parts of the body by the blood stream. Infections A. flavus can cause are corneal, otomycotic, and nasoorbital infections.

Ecology

Aspergillus flavus can be found all over the world; however it is found to be abundant in places of warm temperature. Field contamination is mostly present in areas with high temperatures and drought. It is also abundant in areas with temperate climates during warm drought years. In the US it affects the corn crop in the south eastern area.

A. flavus grows in temperatures of 25-42˚C, but the optimal temperature for growth is 37˚C. It survives through winter as a mycelium or sclerotium. Sclerotium is a resistant structure that can develop into hyphae or conidia. The conidia are then scattered into air and soil by insects or wind.

Cell structure and metabolism

A. flavus belong to the phylum Ascomycota. Ascomycota can reproduce sexually by forming ascospores, but A. flavus does not produce ascospores. Since it does not produce ascopores is can only reproduce asexually. A. flavus is also known as a mold. Like other molds it also grows by producing hyphae. The network of hyphae, or mycelia,are responsible for secreting catabolic enzymes. The enzymes secreted are used to break down complex food sources. The complex food sources are broken down into small molecules which are then absorbed by the mycelium, which use the small molecules to grow. Mycelia produce asexual spores called conidia. Both the mycelia and conidia can be seen with the naked eye while the individual hyphae cannot. Young conidia in A. flavus are yellow green and as the spores age they turn a darker green. A. flavus can use many nutrient sources but being a saphrophyte it uses primarily dead or decaying materials. Being a saphrophyte is important for A. flavus life cycle because it allows the fungus to be present in the soil with decaying plant tissue, allowing the A. flavus to infect other plants.

Genome structure

The genome was sequenced at The Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland. It has also been entered into the BLAST database.The genome of A. flavus strain NRRL 3357 has been sequenced. It has approximately 13,487 genes and the average length of each gene is 1485 bp.

Application to Biotechnology

With the sequencing of the genome done we know that it is

Current Research

Phytochemical inibiion of aflatoxigenicity in Aspergillus flavus by Constituents ofwalnut. By Noreen Mahoney and Russel J.Molyneux

Tulare walnuts are highly resistant to aflatoxin formation,experiments were done to see what makes Tulare walnuts so resistant. It was found that in the pellicle the walnut has gallic acid, which can inhibit activity toward aflatoxin production. Regulation of gallic acid in walnuts by either conventional breeding or genetic manipulation can lead to new crops with high resistance to aflatoxigenisis.

Effect of Nigella sativa Extract and Oil on Aflatoxin Production by Aspergillus Flavus.by Anwar Maraqa, Najwa F. Al-Sharo'a etc The effect of Nigella sativa, N sativa oil, ground coffee beans and caffeine were tested on A. flavus. N. sativa oil was the most effective followed by N. sativa extract. The things tested can be used in processed food to prevent contamination with A. flavus.

Genes differentially expressed by Aspergillus flavus strains after loss of aflaoxin production by serial transfers. by Perng-Kuang Chang et al.

After serial dilutions three strains of A. flavus were found that were not aflatoxigenic. These were then compared to find 22 common features. The 22 features were mapped finding 16 unique genes, but no significant difference was found between aflatoxic and non aflatoxic strains . There was one gene, hcc that seemed to be over expressed in aflatoxic strains but findings were not definitive because the function of other identified genes has not been found.