PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Black aspergilli species responsible for infecting corn identified

2010-10-01
(Press-News.org) U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists in Athens, Georgia, have reported for the first time that several species of Aspergillus niger, or black aspergilli, are capable of infecting corn and peanuts as endophytes. The researchers also showed that, under laboratory conditions, these species produced mycotoxins.

Using a molecular procedure they developed, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research leader Charles Bacon, microbiologist Dorothy Hinton, and Edwin Palencia, a graduate student in the Department of Plant Pathology of the University of Georgia in Athens, identified more than 18 species of black aspergilli, several of which have the potential to produce mycotoxins.

ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency, and this research supports the USDA priority of ensuring food safety.

Bacon and his team at the ARS Richard B. Russell Research Center in Athens also found that several A.niger species that were thought to be incapable of producing mycotoxins can produce ochratoxins—carcinogenic mycotoxins that can affect humans, livestock, and poultry. These A. niger species were deemed as non-producers of mycotoxins based on in vitro culture media, but on corn they were indeed producers. The findings from that research were published in the journal Toxins.

A. niger, one of a group of black-spored fungi, is a common contaminant on corn, peanuts, several other important food and feed ingredients, and products made from them.

Bacon and his team's work suggest that species of A. niger are also contributors to the occurrence of fumonisins in corn, other cereals and food items. Fumonisins are a class of mycotoxins that are known to be carcinogenic and are primarily produced by the Fusarium species of fungi. Some of the black aspergilli identified in this study are also producers of this mycotoxin.

According to the research team, the A. niger complex of species acts within corn and peanuts as an endophyte, living within the tissues of the plant, but causing no harm to the plant itself. Three species of A. niger are identified in U.S. corn and peanuts as symptomless endophytes, which suggests the potential for concern as pathogens and as food safety hazards.

Black aspergilli, generally viewed as post-harvest pathogens, produce rots of grapes, corn and numerous other fruits and grain.

INFORMATION: USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272 (voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

K-State research finds that educators should encourage college students to shoot for the stars

2010-10-01
MANHATTAN, KAN. -- Less academically promising students should not be discouraged from setting high educational goals, according to one Kansas State University professor's research. Chardie Baird, K-State assistant professor of sociology, and John Reynolds, Florida State University professor of sociology, looked at the mental health consequences of shooting for the stars versus planning for the probable in their publication "Is There a Downside to Shooting for the Stars? Unrealized Educational Expectations and Symptoms of Depression." Their research, published earlier ...

Bioethics scholars fault requirement that all women in clinical drug trials use contraception

2010-10-01
(Garrison, NY) Research ethics review committees often require all women of childbearing age who enroll in clinical trials to use contraceptives to protect against a developing fetus being exposed to potentially harmful drugs. A mandatory contraceptive policy is often imposed even when there is no evidence that a trial drug could harm a fetus or when women have no chance of becoming pregnancy. This requirement is excessive and can safely be relaxed in many cases, according to a report in IRB: Ethics & Human Research. Policies on contraceptive use in research should reflect ...

Researchers at the University of Granada associate trigger points with shoulder injury

Researchers at the University of Granada associate trigger points with shoulder injury
2010-10-01
Researchers of the University of Granada, in collaboration with the Centre for Sensory-Motor Interaction of the University of Aalborg, Denmark, and the University Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, conducted a research on chronic impingement syndrome. The study revealed that excessive activation of specific neck and shoulder muscles during daily life or while playing sports –as swimming– is the cause of a high number of injury and shoulder A Common Pain The pattern of the pain originated in these muscles –sometimes in regions far from the shoulder– coincides with most of the symptoms ...

Hydrogen fuel for thought

2010-10-01
New research by Rice University scientists suggests that a class of material known as metallacarborane could store hydrogen at or better than benchmarks set by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrogen Program for 2015. The work could receive wide attention as hydrogen comes into play as a fuel of the future for cars, in fuel cells and by industry. The new study by Rice theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and his colleagues, which appears in the online Journal of the American Chemical Society, taps the power of transition metals scandium and titanium to ...

URI professor warns: TV viewing likely to make you fear sickness

2010-10-01
KINGSTON, R.I.-– September 30, 2010 –Watching television and its heavy dose of medical content in news and drama can lead to more concern about personal health and reduce a person's satisfaction with life according to a new study out of the University of Rhode Island. The study, authored by Yinjiao Ye, assistant professor of communications studies found that TV viewing affects people's awareness of health-risks and whether they believe they can protect their own health. People develop these perceptions because TV viewing leads them to believe they have a greater likelihood ...

Tea leaves identified using neural networks

Tea leaves identified using neural networks
2010-10-01
A team of chemists from the University of Seville (US) has managed to distinguish between different kinds of tea leaves on the basis of their mineral content and by using artificial neural networks. This technique makes it possible to differentiate between the five main varieties of tea – white, green black, Oolong and red tea. "This method makes it possible to clearly differentiate between the five types of tea – something that is often not easy to do by eye alone – by using analysis of the leaves' mineral content and then mathematically processing these data", José ...

Catalyst sandwich

2010-10-01
Northwestern University researchers have taken another step towards realizing a new class of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) enzyme mimics, opening the door for the development of highly sensitive chemical detection systems that go beyond nucleic acid targets. The blueprint for building synthetic structures to detect and signal the presence of targets such as small molecule medical analytes (signalers of disease or bodily malfunction, such as neurotransmitters) and environmental hazards, such as TNT, to name just a few, is inspired by biology and its allosteric enzymes. ...

Testing African couples for HIV is cost-effective prevention strategy

2010-10-01
As researchers and policymakers work toward an effective HIV vaccine in a constrained global economy, cost-effective prevention strategies such as Couples Voluntary Counseling and Testing (CVCT) must take a larger role in efforts to decrease the rates of HIV/AIDS in Africa, says Emory University HIV/AIDS vaccine researcher Susan Allen, MD, MPH. Allen, who has worked to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa for more than 25 years, highlighted the value of CVCT and other cost-effective HIV prevention strategies today at the AIDS Vaccine 2010 Conference in Atlanta. "The ...

Chromosomal break gives scientists a break in finding new puberty gene

Chromosomal break gives scientists a break in finding new puberty gene
2010-10-01
A break in the two chromosomes has given scientists a break in finding a new gene involved in puberty, Medical College of Georgia researchers report. It's also helped clear up why some patients with delayed puberty have no sense of smell, said Dr. Lawrence C. Layman, chief of the MCG Section of Reproductive Endocrinology, Infertility and Genetics. The WRD11 gene interacts with a transcription factor that appears to be involved in development of gonadotropin releasing hormones that enable sexual maturation as well as olfactory neurons in the brain, according to a study ...

Bedouin tribe reveals secrets to McGill's GA-JOE

Bedouin tribe reveals secrets to McGills GA-JOE
2010-10-01
Van Den Ende-Gupta syndrome (VDEGS) is an extremely rare genetic disorder that is characterized by distinctive head and facial features, such as unusual eyelids, narrow and beaked noses, flat nasal bridges, jaw deformities, and a turned out lower lip. As part of McGill's "RaDiCAL" project (Rare Disease Consortium for Autosomal Loci), collaborators in Qatar conducted field research with three patients from biologically interrelated Bedouin families, and sent samples to Canada for analysis by GA JOE – a high-tech genome analyzing machine. The research effort was led by husband ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Resistance training may improve nerve health, slow aging process, study shows

Common and inexpensive medicine halves the risk of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer

SwRI-built instruments to monitor, provide advanced warning of space weather events

Breakthrough advances sodium-based battery design

New targeted radiation therapy shows near-complete response in rare sarcoma patients

Does physical frailty contribute to dementia?

Soccer headers and brain health: Study finds changes within folds of the brain

Decoding plants’ language of light

UNC Greensboro study finds ticks carrying Lyme disease moving into western NC

New implant restores blood pressure balance after spinal cord injury

New York City's medical specialist advantage may be an illusion, new NYU Tandon research shows

Could a local anesthetic that doesn’t impair motor function be within reach?

1 in 8 Italian cetacean strandings show evidence of fishery interactions, with bottlenose and striped dolphins most commonly affected, according to analysis across four decades of data and more than 5

In the wild, chimpanzees likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day

Warming of 2°C intensifies Arctic carbon sink but weakens Alpine sink, study finds

Bronze and Iron Age cultures in the Middle East were committed to wine production

Indian adolescents are mostly starting their periods at an earlier age than 25 years ago

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

Scientists identify four ways our bodies respond to COVID-19 vaccines

Stronger together: A new fusion protein boosts cancer immunotherapy

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

Music training can help the brain focus

Researcher develop the first hydride ion prototype battery

MIT researchers find a more precise way to edit the genome

‘Teen’ pachycephalosaur butts into fossil record

Study finds cocoa extract supplement reduced key marker of inflammation and aging

Obesity treatment with bariatric surgery vs GLP-1 receptor agonists

Nicotinamide for skin cancer chemoprevention

[Press-News.org] Black aspergilli species responsible for infecting corn identified