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Development of the dichlorvos-ammonia (DV-AM) method for the visual detection of aflatoxigenic fungi

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Abstract

Aflatoxins (AFs) are carcinogenic and toxic secondary metabolites produced mainly by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. To monitor and regulate the AF contamination of crops, a sensitive and precise detection method for these toxigenic fungi in environments is necessary. We herein developed a novel visual detection method, the dichlorvos-ammonia (DV-AM) method, for identifying AF-producing fungi using DV and AM vapor on agar culture plates, in which DV inhibits the esterase in AF biosynthesis, causing the accumulation of anthraquinone precursors (versiconal hemiacetal acetate and versiconol acetate) of AFs in mycelia on the agar plate, followed by a change in the color of the colonies from light yellow to brilliant purple-red by the AM vapor treatment. We also investigated the appropriate culture conditions to increase the color intensity. It should be noted that other species producing the same precursors of AFs such as Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus versicolor could be discriminated from the Aspergillus section Flavi based on the differences of their phenotypes. The DV-AM method was also useful for the isolation of nonaflatoxigenic fungi showing no color change, for screening microorganisms that inhibit the AF production by fungi, and for the characterization of the fungi infecting corn kernels. Thus, the DV-AM method can provide a highly sensitive and visible indicator for the detection of aflatoxigenic fungi.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Kenji Tanaka and Dr. Masaru Manabe, the National Food Research Institute, for supplying all of the SYS strains, Dr. Masayuki Ichinomiya, the National Food Research Institute, for supplying for providing the P. citrinum strains, Dr. Tadatsugu Tanaka, Kobe Institute of Health, Japan, for providing the OMST-accumulating A. parasiticus strain (KIH No. 35-8), and Dr. Nancy Keller, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for providing the A. nidulans strains. This work was performed with the assistance of the Computer Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Grant-in-aid, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan, and partially supported by the Gender Equality Program, NARO.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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  1. Kimiko Yabe

    Present address: Department of Environmental and Food Sciences, Fukui University of Technology, 3-6-1, Gakuen, Fukui-shi, Fukui, 910-8505, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Food Research Institute, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8642, Japan

    Kimiko Yabe, Hidemi Hatabayashi, Akifumi Ikehata, Yazhi Zheng & Masayo Kushiro

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  1. Kimiko Yabe
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Correspondence to Kimiko Yabe.

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Yabe, K., Hatabayashi, H., Ikehata, A. et al. Development of the dichlorvos-ammonia (DV-AM) method for the visual detection of aflatoxigenic fungi. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 99, 10681–10694 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-015-6924-3

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