• Mycobiology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.183-190
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• 2003

Five cereal grains(wheat, barley, rice, maize and sorghum) were collected from three Egyptian provinces known to be grain producers(Daqahlia, Gharbia and Kafer el-Sheikh). Two species of Alternaria(A. raphani and A. tenusinae); two species of Aspergillus(A. flavus and A. niger); one species of Cunninghamella(C. elegans); one Dreschslera species(D. myakt); three Fusarium species(F. graminearum, F. moniliform and F. solani); one Rhizopus species(R. stolonifer) and two species of Penicillium(P. digitatum and P. notatum) were isolated from the grains. The densities of these fungi and their frequencies of occurrence have been investigated. All the fungal isolates were tested for the production of toxic metabolites in culture media and the percentages of toxigenic isolates were calculated. The biological assay of the toxigenic fungal isolates showed significant variations in toxigenic activity. Thin layer chromatography revealed that the most active isolate produces moniliformin in culture media. The effect of culture conditions on the production of moniliformin was studied.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 1990

The ability of many toxigenic fungi to invade and develop in a wide variety of raw ingredients of human diet renders human exposure to mycotoxing very difficult to avoid. Most of the energy-rich commodities, such as cereal grains, oil seeds, tree nuts, and dehydrated fruits, are susceptible to mycotoxin contamination. Mycotoxins therefare have been recognized as an important class of hazardous substances in the human food chain. Although human exposure to mycotoxins is largely through ingestion, inhalation and skin contact may also be significant under conditions other than consumption of foods. Human ingestion of mycotoxins is due to consumption of contaminated dietary ingredients and the edible tissues and products of domestic animals that have been exposed to mycotoxins in moldy feed. Large scale acute human mycotoxicoses, such as ergotism in France, alimentary toxic aleukia in Russia, yellow rice syndrome in Japan, endemic nephropathy in Balkan countries, and acute aflatoxin poisonings in India and Taiwan, have been well documented, indicating that mycotoxicosis is a global problem. In some incidents, hundreds of victims were killed and many more became seriously ill. The mycotoxins that have been implicated in the etiology of these human diseases include aflatoxins, citreoviridin, cyclopiazonic acid, ergot alkaloids, moniliformin, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes, tenuazonic acid, and zearalenone. Among these, aflatoxins have been also implicated in the etiology of human primary liver cancer in those high-incidence countries in Africa and southeast Asia. It is well recognized that cause-effect relationship between mycotoxins and human diseases is very difficult to establish, especially for the cancer connection. Careful risk assessment must be performed to determine whether a mycotoxin indeed warrants costly regulatory actions.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.301-312
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• 2019

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal worldwide, spreading from Africa throughout the world. It is particularly important in the semi-arid tropics due to its drought tolerance, and when cultivated in Southeast Asia commonly occurs as a second crop during the dry season. We recovered Fusarium from sorghum in Thailand and found F. proliferatum, F. thapsinum and F. verticillioides most frequently, and intermittent isolates of F. sacchari and F. beomiforme. The relatively high frequencies of F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides, suggest mycotoxin contamination, particularly fumonisins and moniliformin, should be evaluated. Genetic variation within the three commonly recovered species was characterized with vegetative compatibility, mating type, Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphisms (AFLPs), and female fertility. Effective population number ($N_e$) was highest for F. verticillioides and lowest for F. thapsinum with values based on mating type allele frequencies higher than those based on female fertility. Based on AFLP genetic variation, the F. thapsinum populations were the most closely related, the F. verticillioides populations were the most distantly related, and the F. proliferatum populations were in an intermediate position. The genetic variation observed could result if F. thapsinum is introduced primarily with seed, while F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides could arrive with seed or be carried over from previous crops, e.g., rice or maize, which sorghum is following. Confirmation of species transmission patterns is needed to understand the agricultural systems in which sorghum is grown in Southeast Asia, which are quite different from the systems found in Africa, Australia, India and the Americas.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.276-280
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• 2001

Fusarium isolates of Gibberella fujikuroi species complex were obtained from sorghum grown in five provinces of Korea in 1996 and 1997. These isolates were characterized based on their mating behavior, mycotoxin production, and vegetative compatibility. Only three mating populations (A, D, and F) were recovered from a total of 155 isolates examined. The relative frequency of the mating populations was significantly different: F was predominant (80%), while D and A were observed at low frequencies of 9% and 3%, respectively. Female fertile isolates were more common within F (44 our of 124) than D (2 out of 14), while none of the five A isolates were female fertile. The inbreeding effective population sizes ($\textrm{N}_e$)for mating type and male/hermaphrodite ratios in mating populations A and D produced significant amounts of fumonisins, while F isolates produced none or only traces of fumonisin B$_1$. In contrast. F isolates produced higher amounts of moniliformin (average of 3,820 ppm) than A and D isolates (averages of 77 and 1,819 ppm, respectively). Fifty-one isolates were tested for vegetative compatibility using nitrogen non-utilization mutants of each isolate, and 44 vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) were identified. A single VC type (VC1) was found in all of the five A isolates examined. Six of the D isolates examined consisted of three VC types: two for VC2, two for VC3, and the rest for VC4. All of the F isolates tested were incompatible in every combination and , thus, each constituted a unique VCG.