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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Ecological Roles and Regulation of Mycotoxin Production in Fungi
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Ecological Roles and Regulation of Mycotoxin Production in Fungi

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Microbe Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 2171

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jake C. Fountain

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA
Interests: plant pathology; genomics; mycotoxins
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sunil Gangurde

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
Interests: plant molecular biology; molecular breeding; plant genomics; fungal genomics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mycotoxins are critical food safety concerns globally resulting in human and animal diseases and significant economic losses. While extensive research has been performed in elucidating the biochemical and genetic bases of the biosynthetic pathways for many of the major mycotoxins contaminating crops, less is known about their upstream regulation or the ecological reasons that these mycotoxins are produced by fungi in the first place. Recent studies have pointed to ecological roles of mycotoxins including fungivory prevention, stress remediation, and antimicrobial activities to provide competitive advantages to mycotoxigenic fungi in the environment against other microbes. Some mycotoxins have even been shown to function as virulence factors in plant–fungal interactions.

This Special Issue is focused on highlighting research into the putative ecological functions and functional regulation of mycotoxins in agricultural systems. Articles exploring these aspects of the production of major mycotoxins of food safety importance such as aflatoxins, deoxynivalenols, fumonisins, ochratoxins, and zearalenone are of particular interest. Research exploring host–pathogen interactions, fungal genetics, genomics, “omics” studies, environmental interactions, microbiomes, biotechnology, and novel control measures (novel fungicides, biological controls, cultural practices) are also encouraged. Original research, short communications, and review articles are welcome.

Dr. Jake C. Fountain
Dr. Sunil Gangurde
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biological control
  • biotechnology
  • environmental interactions
  • fungal ecology
  • fungal genetics
  • host–pathogen interactions
  • microbiomes
  • mycotoxins
  • omics
  • plant pathology

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 2527 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Temperature and Water Activity Interactions on Growth, Aflatoxin B1 Production and Expression of Major Biosynthetic Genes of AFB1 in Aspergillus flavus Isolates
by Mayasar I. Al-Zaban
Microorganisms 2023, 11(5), 1199; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051199 - 04 May 2023
Viewed by 1481
Abstract
The contamination of peanuts, with Aspergillus flavus and subsequent aflatoxins (AFs) is considered to be one of the most serious, safety problems in the world. Water activity (aw) and temperature are limiting, factors for fungal growth and aflatoxin production during storage. [...] Read more.
The contamination of peanuts, with Aspergillus flavus and subsequent aflatoxins (AFs) is considered to be one of the most serious, safety problems in the world. Water activity (aw) and temperature are limiting, factors for fungal growth and aflatoxin production during storage. The objectives of this study were to integrate data on the effects of temperature (34, 37, and 42 °C) and water activity (aw; 0.85, 0.90, and 0.95) on growth rate aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) production and up- or-downregulation of the molecular expression of biosynthetic AFB1 genes divided into three types based on their A. flavus isolate composition and AFB1 capacity in vitro: A. flavus KSU114 (high producer), A. flavus KSU114 (low producer), and A. flavus KSU121 (non-producer). The A. flavus isolates were shown to be resilient in terms of growth on yeast extract sucrose agar media when exposed to temperature and water activity as pivotal environmental factors. The optimal conditions for the fungal growth of three isolates were a temperature of 34 °C and water activity of 0.95 aw; there was very slow fungal growth at the highest temperature of 42 °C, with different aw values causing inhibited fungal growth. The AFB1 production for the three isolates followed the same pattern with one exception: A. flavus KSU114 failed to produce any AFB1 at 42 °C with different aw values. All tested genes of A. flavus were significantly up- or downregulated under three levels of interaction between temperature and aw. The late structural genes of the pathway were significantly upregulated at 34 °C under aw 0.95, although aflR, aflS and most of the early structural genes were upregulated. Compared to 34 °C with an aw value of 0.95, most of the expressed genes were significantly downregulated at 37 and 42 °C with aw values of 0.85 and 0.90. Additionally, two regulatory genes were downregulated under the same conditions. The expression level of laeA was also completely associated with AFB1 production, while the expression level of brlA was linked to A. flavus colonization. This information is required to forecast the actual effects of climate change on A. flavus. The findings can be applied to improve specific food technology processes and create prevention strategies to limit the concentrations of potential carcinogenic substances in peanuts and their derivatives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Roles and Regulation of Mycotoxin Production in Fungi)
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