Digital Commons Network^™

Mechanism Of Intraspecific Toxin Inhibition In Aspergillus Flavus, Changwei Huang

LSU Master's Theses

Atoxigenic Aspergillus flavus was demonstrated by others as a promising biocontrol agent to minimize preharvest aflatoxins in susceptible crops. But the mechanism was unclear. A filter insert-well plate system was used to study the mechanism in lab. There was no inhibition when toxigenic A. flavus isolate 53 and inhibitory atoxigenic isolates were separated by 0.4 µm membrane, approximately 50% inhibition occurred when separated by 12 µm membrane, and complete inhibition occurred when a 74 µm membrane was used. This result suggested that touching or close physical interaction is needed for toxin inhibition and the nutrient competition hypothesis was not supported. …