A Novel Non Radioactive PCR-DNA Probe for the Detection of Aflatoxin Producing Aspergillus Species from Major Food Crops Grown in India*
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Advances in Microbiology, 2012, 2, 577-586 doi:10.4236/aim.2012.24075 Published Online December 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/aim) A Novel Non Radioactive PCR-DNA Probe for the Detection of Aflatoxin Producing Aspergillus Species from * Major Food Crops Grown in India S. R. Priyanka, M. Venkata Ramana, K. Balakrishna, H. S. Murali, H. V. Batra# Division of Microbiology, Defense Food Research Laboratory, Siddarthanagar, India Email: #[email protected] Received September 13, 2012; revised October 18, 2012; accepted October 27, 2012 ABSTRACT In the present study, a novel non radioactive digoxigenen labelled PCR-DNA probe was developed targeting nor-1 gene to assess the contamination of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species in food grain samples from Southern parts of India. The sensitivity of developed PCR-DNA probe was determined to be 10 pg of genomic DNA and 1 pg of purified PCR product. The specificity of the DNA probe was validated by testing against an array of Aspergillus, Fusarium and Peni- cillium spp. A total of 89 Aspergillus isolates were recovered from 152 grain samples of maize, paddy, and groundnut. Among them, maize had the highest (90%) incidence of toxigenic Aspergillus species. When developed PCR-DNA probe was evaluated onto pure cultures of toxigenic and nontoxigenic Aspergillus species, 60 samples were positive for the nor-1 gene probe. DNA probe results unequivocally matched with the HPLC analysis. In conclusion, the novel PCR-DNA probe developed in this study may find its application in rapid detection of aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus isolates from contaminated cereal grains. Keywords: AFB1-Aflatoxin B1; HPLC-High Performance Liquid Chromatography; Nor-1; Norsolorinic Acid Synthase; PCR-Polymerase Chain Reaction 1. Introduction always straight-forward. Molecular techniques have also been widely applied for distinguishing aflatoxigenic and Aflatoxins are common mycotoxins in agriculture and non-aflatoxigenic strains of Aspergillus by targeting one food commodities causing serious health hazards to hu- or several genes involved in the aflatoxin biosynthetic mans and animals leading to great economic losses. pathway with the ability/inability to produce aflatoxins. Among the aflatoxin group produced by Aspergillus spe- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) methods have been cies, Aflatoxin B1 is most potent carcinogen and it was developed for detection of aflatoxigenic fungi. In this classified as group 1 carcinogen by the International respect, several primers have been designed for several Agency for Research on cancer [1]. Although aflatoxin- genes in the biosynthetic pathways of aflatoxins; for production ability has been detected in various species of example, afl, nor, omt, ord, tub, ver [5-9]. It has been the Aspergillus genus, inside and outside the Flavi group, demonstrated that most of the 25 identified genes clus- Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus remain the tered within a specific 70-kb region of the fungal genome most important and representative aflatoxin producers are involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis [10]. Among them, occurring naturally in food commodities [2]. Several nor-1 gene encodes an enzyme that catalyses the ketore- mycotoxicoses cases in humans and animals have been duction of norsolorinic acid (the first stable path-way reported due to the consumption of mycotoxin contami- intermediate) to averantin, plays a major role in aflatoxin nated food and feed [3]. biosynthesis [11]. A large number of probe-based meth- Because of the toxic and potent carcinogenic proper- ods have already been developed for the detection of ties of aflatoxins, many developed countries have estab- various food borne bacterial pathogens and mycotoxi- lished very stringent regulations limiting the maximum genic fungi [12,13]. In the present study, a novel non- allowable amount of aflatoxins in food and feed [4]. radioactive digoxigenen labelled PCR-DNA probe was Classical mycological analysis based on morphological developed targeting nor-1 gene to assess the contamina- and biochemical characters is time-consuming and not tion of aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species in contaminated * food grain samples. To know the incidence of toxigenic Authors do not having any conflict of interest in present study. #Corresponding author. Aspergillus species and aflatoxin concentrations, a sur- Copyright © 2012 SciRes. AiM 578 S. R. PRIYANKA ET AL. vey was conducted among the cereal grain growing re- carried out with minor modifications of Ramana et al. gions in Southern India. Developed PCR-DNA probe [14]. The DNA was dissolved in 50 µL of 2 mM Tris- was evaluated on to an array of fungal species recovered EDTA and stored at –20˚C. DNA concentrations were from contaminated food grains. For practical usefulness, determined using a NanoDrop-ND-1000 spectrophoto- the developed PCR-DNA probe was co evaluated with meter (Nanodrop Technologies, Wilmington, USA). the chemical analysis of aflatoxins by HPLC. 2.3. Species Specific PCR Assays: Primers and 2. Material and Methods Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) 2.1. Fungal Strains, Media and Culture Conditions Conditions Species specific PCR assays were carried out by using The list of Standard strains used in the present study was reported primers PEPO1, PEPO2 and AnF, AnR were given in (Table 1). Standard fungal strains were obtained used for specific detection of A. flavus and A. niger re- from culture collection centers at the Microbial Type spectively [28,29]. Primer sequence and references were Culture Collection (MTCC), Chandigarh, the National given in (Table 2). Collection of Industrial Microorganisms (NCIM), Pune and the Indian Type culture Collection (ITCC), New 2.4. Design of Nor-1 Gene Specific Delhi, India. Aspergillus isolates were recovered from Oligonucleotide Primers and PCR Assay infected food grains (maize, paddy and groundnut) col- One set of oligonucleotide primers were designed target- lected from different regions of Southern India including ing nor-1 gene involved in aflatoxin biosynthesis for Andhra Pradesh, Kerela, Karnataka and Tamilnadu. A developing PCR-DNA probe. The nor-1 gene sequence total of 62 maize, 50 paddy and 40 groundnut samples was obtained from NCBI database (accession No. AY- were subjected to standard blotter method (International 510451.1). Gene runner software, version 3.1 Seed Testing Association. 1996) to assess the incidence (www.generunner.com) was used to design optimal of Aspergillus species and were sub cultured on to potato primers: NOR1 F dextrose agar (PDA; Himedia, Mumbai, India) for 7 days 5’ACCGCTACGCCGGCGCTCTCGGCAC 3’ and NOR at 25˚C and single spore cultures were lyophilized and 1 R 5’GTTGGCCGCCAGCTTCGACACTCCG 3’. PCR maintained at 4˚C. amplification was performed in a 20 μL reaction volume with 0.5 μM each forward and reverse primers, 2 μL of 2.2. Molecular Detection of Aspergillus Species 10 × PCR buffer, 1.5 mM of MgCl2, 80 μM of each DNA Extraction dNTP’s, and 1 U of Taq polymerase (MBI Fermentas) in The DNA isolation from standard strains and grains was Eppendorf master thermal cycler (Hamburg, Germany). Table 1. Standard isolates used in this study. S No. Strain name and source DNA probe result HPLC result 1 Aspergillus flavus ATCC 46283 + + 2 Aspergillus flavus NCIM 152 + + 3 Aspergillus flavus NCIM 645 + + 4 Aspergillus flavus NCIM 650 + + 5 Aspergillus flavus MTCC 2798 + + 6 Aspergillus Parasiticus MTCC 2797 + + 7 Aspergillus Parasiticus MTCC 2796 + + 8 Aspergillus parasiticus NCIM 898 + + 9 Aspergillus niger MTCC 9687 – – 10 Fusarium moniliforme MTCC 156 – – 11 Fusarium sporotrichoides MTCC 2081 – – 12 Fusarium graminearum MTCC 2089 – – 13 Fusarium verticelloides MTCC 3693 – – 14 Penicillium chrysogenum MTCC 6479 – – Copyright © 2012 SciRes. AiM S. R. PRIYANKA ET AL. 579 Table 2. Primers used in this study. Sl. No Primer name Sequence (5’-3’) Targeted gene TM Target organism Size (bp) References PEPO1 CGACGTCTACAAGCCTTCTGGAAA Aspergillopep-sin Lagotheti et al., 1 56˚C A. flavus 200 PEPO2 CAGCAGACCGTCATTGTTCTTGTC 1st exon 2009 [28] ANF CAGTCGTCCAGTACCCCTAAC Sartori et al., 2 RAPD marker 56˚C A. niger 372 ANR GAGCGAGGCTGATCTAAGT 2006 [29] A standard protocol was used to perform nor-1 gene PCR. membranes were then washed in 50 mL 0.5 × SSC, 0.1% PCR program consisted of an initial denaturation of 4 SDS (pre-warmed to wash temperature) at 58˚C under min at 94˚C followed by 30 cycles denaturation at 94˚C constant agitation. After hybridization and stringent for 40 sec, annealing at 58˚C for 1 min and extension at washes, the membrane was rinsed briefly (1 - 5 min) in 72˚C for 90 seconds. A final extension of 72˚C for 5 min 50 mL washing buffer and incubated for 30 min in 50 was given at the end of the PCR reaction. The amplified mL blocking solution then incubated for another 30 min product was examined by 1% agarose gel electrophoresis in 50 mL antibody solution. After incubation membrane under UV. was washed twice for 15 min in 50 mL washing buffer and then equilibrated for 2 - 5 min in 50 mL detection 2.5. DNA Probe Preparation buffer. The membrane was incubated in 50 mL freshly prepared colour substrate solution in a dark colored con- The DNA probe was synthesized by PCR amplification tainer with a lid in dark cabinet/room. During colour de- of nor-1 gene from the A. flavus. The PCR amplicon was velopment the container was not shaken. The membranes purified using the QIAQuick PCR purification kit were exposed to light for short time periods for colour (Qiagen, Germany) and labeled by randomly priming development monitoring. The reaction was stopped when with alkali label Digoxigenin-11-dUTP nucleotide fol- the desired band intensities were achieved, by washing lowing the manufacturer’s instructions (Roche Diagnos- the membrane for 5 min with distilled water and further tics, India). Briefly, a 15 μL volume of purified nor-1 documented. gene PCR amplicon was boiled for 10 min and immedi- ately chilled in ice to obtain completely denatured 2.7. Specificity and Sensitivity of PCR-DNA strands.