Identification of Aspergillus tubingensis strains responsible for OTA contamination in grapes and wine based on the acyl transferase domain of a polyketide synthase gene

Abstract

Restriction digestion analysis of the acyl transferase (AT) domain sequences of a polyketide synthase (PKS) gene was tested as a rapid method to identify isolates of Aspergillus tubingensis from grapes. Restriction endonuclease digestion of PKS products using the endonucleases BccI, HaeIII, HpaII, MboI and TaqI distinguished five types of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Ochratoxigenic isolates were only identified within RFLP-types I and III. The RFLP assay is proposed as a rapid and easy method to identify A. tubingensis isolates from grapes. Amino acid sequences of AT domains from representative A. tubingensis isolates of the RFLP types obtained were aligned and analysed using phylogenetic methods. A comparison was also made with reference strains of Aspergillus section Nigri. Most of the A. tubingensis strains clustered into two distinct groups Gr1 and Gr2 with the exception of two isolates that remained unclustered. These results support the intraspeficific variability within A. tubingensis species reported using other techniques.

Filamentous Fungi Transported by Birds During Migration Across the Mediterranean Sea

“…alternata as well as members of the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium) are generally defined as plant pathogens and soil-borne but also allergens for humans and animals [12,16,17,20]. Moreover, most of these species found are well known producers of mycotoxins, common contaminants of foods and feeds [11].…”

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“…Only nine isolates were identified as A. tubingensis in this study. Although A. tubingensis was not prevalent in this study, this species has been reported as a common contaminant found in food products, feed, soils and indoor air (Garcia-Cela et al 2014;Lopez-Mendoza et al 2009;Medina et al 2005;Varga et al 2014). In this study, A. tubingensis shared several substrates with A. niger such as rice, spices and corn grains.…”

A comparative study of DNA extraction methods to be used in real-time PCR based quantification of ochratoxin A-producing molds in food products

“…Several strains of Penicillium and Aspergillus spp. have been reported as OTA producers (Dachoupakan et al, 2009;Lund & Frisvad, 2003;López-Mendoza, Crespo-Sempere, & Martínez-Culebras, 2009;Mulé, Susca, Logrieco, Stea, & Visconti, 2006;Sartori et al, 2006). OTAproducing strains may contaminate ripened foods (Bogs, Battilani, & Geisen, 2006;Kure, Skaar, & Brendehaug, 2004;Núñez, Rodríguez, Bermúdez, Córdoba, & Asensio, 1996), nuts (Magnoli et al, 2007), wine and grape products (Atoui, Mathieu, & Lebrihi, 2007;Selma et al, 2008), among others.…”