Fumonisin [BSA]

Fourteen isolates of Fusarium were isolated from wilt affected tomato samples collected from 10 different states of India. Characterization of the fungal cultures based on morphology and sequencing of ITS rDNA revealed that they belonged to Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (Fol). Pathogenicity assay on two susceptible tomato cultivars showed all the 14 isolates were pathogenic and categorized in high-, moderate- and low-virulent groups. Differential host assay on Bonny Best (no resistant gene), UC82-L (harboring I-1), Fla.MH1 (harboring I-1 and I-2) and I3R-1 (harboring I-1, I-2 and I-3) tomato genotypes and PCR amplification with race-specific primers indicated that all the Fusarium isolates infecting tomato in India were belonging to race 1. Molecular diversity analysis based on ISSR markers revealed the presence of 3 distinct groups of Fol isolates. Abundant diversity was observed among the Fol isolates in harboring the virulence-related genes (endo-polygalacturonase gene pg1 and tomatinases) and toxin production (fumonisin). However, presence of pg1 does not correlate with virulence and the isolates carrying tomatinase 4 (tom-4) in combination with other tomatinase genes were of virulent group. Detection of fumonisin gene in six isolates of Fusarium infecting tomato indicated their toxigenic nature.

This study was designed to investigate the occurrence and exposure assessment of multiple mycotoxins in corn-based food products from Shandong Province, China. Results demonstrated that the mean level of total mycotoxins in test samples was 197.2 mu g/kg. The most frequently found mycotoxins were deoxynivalenol (96.7%) and fumonisin B-1 (94.4%), with mean contamination levels of 65.24 and 128.2, respectively. Among these corn-based food products, thin corn pancake had the highest mean contamination (886.7 mu g/kg), followed by wotou (143.7 mu g/kg), corn cake (135.4 mu g/kg) and mantou (63.73 mu g/kg). The average exposure values to total fumonisins and deoxynivalenol were 0.05 and 0.02 mu g/kg bw/day, which were lower than the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake values of 2 and 1 mu g/kg bw/day, respectively, as established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. In the future strict control and systematic monitoring are needed to secure food safety and human health.