Production of aflatoxin and cyclopiazonic acid by various aspergilli: An ELISA analysis

An enzyme-linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to monitor a total of 153 fungi in theAspergillus flavus group, Including 130A. flavus, 15A. parasiticus and 8A. tamarii, for their ability to produce aflatoxins (AFs) and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) in a mycologlcal broth-sucrose-yeast extract medium. Of 15A. parasiticus isolates, ten produced AFs In a range of 12.4 to 89.3 μg/vial (average 56.9 μg/vial); two isolates produced only trace amounts of AFs and three isolates produced none at all. Production of CPA was not demonstrated in anyA. parasiticus isolate. On the other hand, all A. tamarii isolates produced only CPA with a range of 310 to 1100 gmg/vial. Fifteen percent (14.6%) of theA. flavus isolates (19/130) produced more than 500 μg CPA/vial, but yielded no or little AF (less than 0.1 μg/vial). About 22.3% ofA. flavus (29/130) that produced less than 500 μg of CPA also yielded little or no aflatoxin. MostA. flavus isolates (44.6%) produced both CPA (50 to 300 μg/vial) and AFs (10 to 40 μg/vial). About 9.2% of theA. flavus are low CPA producers (less than 100 μg/vial) but yielded higher amounts of AFs. A small percentage (12/130 or 9.2%) of A. flavus isolates produced neither CPA nor aflatoxin. Excluding the isolates that produced neither AFs nor CPA, there is a negative correlation between the production of CPA and AFs by most A.flavus isolates. Data obtained from ELISA for the production of CPA were consistent with TLC results. Thus, the ELISA method for CPA and AFB could be applied to the screening of toxigenic fungi. Data on the simultaneous production of both toxins by a large percentage of the toxigenicA. flavus isolates suggest that there is a potential health hazard for co-existence of both toxins in foods and feeds.