Figure 1 - uploaded by Amorn Owatworakit
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3% agrose gel electrophoresis of PCR products from the fungal strains amplified with OTA primers. Lane M contains the 25 bp DNA ladder; Lanes 1 and 2 contain the pks gene of A. carbonarious; Lanes 3 and 4 are A. flavus.
Source publication
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a polyketide mycotoxin that is produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium. Food contaminated with OTA poses health risks and is a food-safety challenge. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) has been used to identify non-toxigenic and toxigenic strains from coffee samples using polyketide synthase (pks), the OTA synthesis...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... fragment of the pks gene was amplified only from A. carbonarious using specific OTA primers. The PCR product was of the expected size of 141 bp (Figure 1). A. flavus, the non OTA-producing fungus gave a negative result. ...
Context 2
... PCR reaction has been used to detect and quantify mycotoxin-producing Aspergillus species. In this study, we used specific OTA primers to detect pks, the OTA synthesis gene, in fungal strains (Figure 1). Previous research has shown that amplification of pks gene in Aspergillus species using these primers was specific to A. carbonarius only, as indicated by the specific 141 bp PCR product ( Atoui et al., 2007). ...
Citations
Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a toxic mycotoxin produced by some mold species from genera Penicillium and Aspergillus. OTA has been detected in cereals, cereal-derived products, dried fruits, wine, grape juice, beer, tea, coffee, cocoa, nuts, spices, licorice, processed meat, cheese, and other foods. OTA can induce a wide range of health effects attributable to its toxicological properties, including teratogenicity, immunotoxicity, carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, neurotoxicity, and hepatotoxicity. OTA is not only toxic to humans but also harmful to livestock like cows, goats, and poultry. This is why the European Union and various countries regulate the maximum permitted levels of OTA in foods. This review intends to summarize all the main aspects concerning OTA, starting from the chemical structure and fungi that produce it, its presence in food, its toxicity, and methods of analysis, as well as control strategies, including both fungal development and methods of inactivation of the molecule. Finally, the review provides some ideas for future approaches aimed at reducing the OTA levels in foods.
