Aspergillus flavus, Aflatoxins, and Their Effects on Crop Production and Food Safety
A special issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Ecological Interactions of Fungi".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 20980
Special Issue Editors
Interests: understanding host–fungus interactions between maize (corn) and Aspergillus flavus, the fungus that produces aflatoxins during the infection of susceptible crops; between soybean and Phakopsora pachyrhizi, the causal agent of soybean rust; and between soybean and Cercospora cf. flagellaris/ C. kikuchii, the pathogens causing Cercospora leaf blight; developing strategies to enhance host resistance in maize and soybean to these fungal diseases, such as the overexpression of host-resistance-associated genes or the suppression of key fungal genes through host-induced gene silencing (HIGS)
Interests: My major areas of interests include developing tools towards candidate gene discovery and validations, genetic and genome engineering for trait enhancement in grain legumes and dry land cereals. My lab works on generating fundamental knowledge about genetic mechanisms regulating the production of aflatoxins in groundnut and their role in fungal development and virulence. By gaining critical insights into complex regulation of host plant defense responses to aflatoxigenic fungi, the most efficacious gene products for aflatoxin control have been designed using transgenic as well as RNAi/ HIGS based interventions, and more recently by integrating cutting edge CRISPR-Cas based gene editing technologies.
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Aspergillus flavus is a soil-borne opportunistic fungal pathogen that infects important agricultural crops such as maize, peanut, and cotton, and produces the most carcinogenic naturally occurring mycotoxin known as aflatoxin, which causes hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses and serious illnesses in human and domestic animals due to the congestion of aflatoxin-contaminated food or feed, especially in developing countries. Therefore, A. flavus infection and the subsequent aflatoxin accumulation is a major economic and food safety concern worldwide, and the situation is expected to worsen as a result of global warming and the associated climate change. The aim of the current Special Issue is to share/present some of the most recent research efforts in detecting and reducing A. flavus infection in susceptible crops, such as breeding for aflatoxin-tolerant varieties, applying biocontrol agents, adopting effective cultural practices and various post-harvest measures, and to highlight the latest understanding on the regulation of aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway genes in the fungus, the metabolism of aflatoxins in human and domestic animals, and various approaches to detoxify aflatoxins through post-harvest processing to reduce its economic and health impacts.
Dr. Zhi-Yuan Chen
Dr. Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- Aspergillus flavus;
- aflatoxin contamination;
- detection;
- aflatoxin biosynthesis and regulation;
- aflatoxin managment;
- health and economic impacts
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