title: A survey on distribution and toxigenicity of Aspergillus flavus from indoor and outdoor hospital environments.
abstract: In the present study, genetic diversity and mycotoxin profiles of Aspergillus flavus isolated from air (indoors and outdoors), levels (surfaces), and soils of five hospitals in Southwest Iran were examined. From a total of 146 Aspergillus colonies, 63 isolates were finally identified as A. flavus by a combination of colony morphology, microscopic criteria, and mycotoxin profiles. No Aspergillus parasiticus was isolated from examined samples. Chromatographic analyses of A. flavus isolates cultured on yeast extract-sucrose broth by tip culture method showed that approximately 10% and 45% of the isolates were able to produce aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), respectively. Around 40% of the isolates produced sclerotia on Czapek-Dox agar. The isolates were classified into four chemotypes based on the ability to produce AF and CPA that majority of them (55.5%) belonged to chemotype IV comprising non-mycotoxigenic isolates. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles generated by a combination of four selected primers were used to assess genetic relatedness of 16 selected toxigenic and non-toxigenic isolates. The resulting dendrogram demonstrated the formation of two separate clusters for the A. flavus comprised both mycotoxigenic and non-toxigenic isolates in a random distribution. The obtained results in this study showed that RAPD profiling is a promising and efficient tool to determine intra-specific genetic variation among A. flavus populations from hospital environments. A. flavus isolates, either toxigenic or non-toxigenic, should be considered as potential threats for hospitalized patients due to their obvious role in the etiology of nosocomial aspergillosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran 14115-331, Iran.
authors.forename: Asghar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sepahvand
authors.forename: Masoomeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shams-Ghahfarokhi
authors.forename: Abdolamir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allameh
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jahanshiri
authors.forename: Mojdeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jamali
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Razzaghi-Abyaneh
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D001231:Aspergillus flavus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism; D004865:Equipment and Supplies, Hospital / Q000382:microbiology*; D006761:Hospitals; D007492:Iran; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D009183:Mycotoxins
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