Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 23, 2025

Inhibition of Aspergillus flavus Growth and Aflatoxin Production in Transgenic Maize Expressing the α-amylase Inhibitor from Lablab purpureus L.
09:21

Inhibition of Aspergillus flavus Growth and Aflatoxin Production in Transgenic Maize Expressing the α-amylase Inhibitor from Lablab purpureus L.

Published on: February 15, 2019

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Aspergillus derived mycotoxins in food and the environment: Prevalence, detection, and toxicity

Vishwambar Navale1,2, Koteswara Rao Vamkudoth1,2, Shanthipriya Ajmera3

  • 1Biochemical Sciences Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, 411008, India.

Toxicology Reports
|August 19, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Aspergillus fungi produce harmful mycotoxins that contaminate food and pose health risks. Aptamers (APT) offer a fast, sensitive, and cost-effective alternative for detecting these toxins, improving public health surveillance.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Science
  • Food Safety
  • Biotechnology

Background:

  • Aspergillus species are ubiquitous fungi contaminating food and producing toxic mycotoxins like aflatoxins (AFTs) and ochratoxin A (OTA).
  • Mycotoxins pose significant health risks to humans and animals, even at nanomolar concentrations, through contaminated food and bioaerosols.
  • Current detection methods like genomics and antibody-based assays are expensive or prone to cross-reactivity.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To highlight the health risks associated with Aspergillus-derived mycotoxins.
  • To introduce aptamers (APT) as a superior alternative for rapid and reliable mycotoxin detection.

Main Methods:

  • Review of scientific literature on Aspergillus mycotoxins and their detection.
  • Explanation of aptamer (APT) technology, including systematic evolution of ligands through exponential enrichment (SELEX).

Main Results:

  • Aspergillus mycotoxins represent a significant threat to food safety and public health.
  • Aptamers (APT) demonstrate potential for sensitive, specific, and field-deployable toxin detection.

Conclusions:

  • Aptamers (APT) offer a promising, cost-effective solution for point-of-care (POC) mycotoxin detection.
  • Developing APT-based diagnostics can enhance food safety monitoring and mitigate public health risks associated with mycotoxins.
Keywords:
AptamersAspergillus speciesEnvironmentFoodstuffsMycotoxinsOMICSPoint of care (PoC)

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