title: Discrimination of the main Ochratoxin A-producing species in Aspergillus section Circumdati by specific PCR assays.
abstract: Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most important mycotoxins because of its high toxicity to both humans and animals and its occurrence in a number of basic foods and agro-products. Some of the main OTA-producing species belong to Aspergillus section Circumdati, whose taxonomy has been lately revised with the description of new species. The high morphological similarity of these species (Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus steynii and Aspergillus westerdijkiae) makes difficult discrimination among them and with respect to the other species included in the same section unable to produce OTA. In this work, PCR assays specific for the OTA-producing species, A. ochraceus, A. steynii and A. westerdijkiae, were developed on the basis of the multicopy ITS regions of the rDNA. The assays were tested in a wide sample of isolates from diverse origins and culture collections, confirming their specificity, and revealing that the current identification of strains from section Circumdati might need a revision.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology III, Faculty of Biology, University Complutense of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Jéssica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gil-Serna
authors.forename: Covadonga
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Vázquez
authors.forename: Noelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sardiñas
authors.forename: Ma Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: González-Jaén
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Patiño
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D016533:Mycological Typing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D009793:Ochratoxins; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013045:Species Specificity; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D009793:Ochratoxins; D014404:Tubulin; C025589:ochratoxin A