Mycoflora of fungal contamination in wheat storage (silos) in golestan province, north of Iran

Background: Cereal products are susceptible to mould damage during pre- and post-harvesting stages of the production. The regional specificity of Golestan province in the northern region of of Iran, with its high temperature and high relative humidity, acts as a leading factor for the growth of aflatoxin-producing fungi. It is well known that contamination of starch-based ingredients with mycotoxigenic fungi is a risk factor among the consumers due to its aflatoxins. Objectives: This survey was carried out to determine the extent of fungal contamination of wheat in three silos of Golestan province in Iran. Materials and Methods: 34 samples from three active silos were collected in order to clean the polyethylene bags. Wheat analyzed for fungal contamination and aflatoxins extracted by immunoaffinity column chromatography, and measured by HPLC method. Results: The most common moulds isolated were Alternaria spp. 26.7%, Aspergillus niger 21.4%, Fusarium spp. 17.8%, Aspergillus flavus 10.7%, Cladosporium spp. 10.7%, Penicillium spp. 8.9%, and Rhizopus spp. 3.5%. The screening of aflatoxin, B1, B2, G1 and G2 was carried out. 10(29.4%) samples of wheat had traces of aflatoxin, but in a level lower than the standard levels [Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIR< 15 ng/g)]. Conclusions: Despite the lower detected aflatoxin levels (lower than the ISIR level), the fungal contamination rate could not be neglected. Since the isolated mycotoxigenic fungi such as Aspergillus spp. and Fusarium spp. are important in food industry, it would be possible that the increased retention time of samples might have raised the detected contamination rate. © 2013, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Quantitative determination of aflatoxin by high performance liquid chromatography in wheat silos in Golestan province, north of Iran

Background: Aflatoxins are the most common mycotoxins that contaminate crops. They are produced by fungi such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Wheat (Tricitumaestivum) is one of the most important staple foods used in Iran, and the environmental conditions in the north of Iran are favorable to fungal growth. This study was designed in order to determine the aflatoxin concentration in wheat samples from silos in Golestan Province north of Iran. Methods: Samples were collected from three silos of Golestan province. First, aflatoxins were isolated using immu-noaffinity chromatography. Then the aflatoxin concentrations were determined by High performance liquid chroma-tography (HPLC) method and fluorescence detector. Results: Ten out of 34 samples (29.4 of samples) were contaminated by aflatoxins.No concentration was found above permitted aflatoxin levels in Iran (15 ng/g). In one sample (2.9), aflatoxin B1 was seen over the permissible limits in Iran. The highest level found in samples for total aflatoxin, aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin G1 and aflatox-in G2 were 7.08 ng/g, 6.91 ng/g, 0.29 ng/g, 1.37 ng/g and 0.23 ng/g, respectively. No correlation was found between humidity levels in wheat samples contained aflatoxin and wheat samples without aflatoxin. Conclusion: Despite the total aflatoxins determined in samples were below the permissible limits in Iran, the 29 aflatoxin contamination rate can negatively affect health factors and it should not be neglected. So, it is predictable that if the storage duration of samples increases, the aflatoxin contamination levels will increase. © 2015, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All rights reserved

Isolation of keratinophilic fungi and aerobic actinomycetes from park soils in Gorgan, North of Iran

Background: Keratinophilic fungi are a group of fungi that colonize in various keratinous substrates and degrade them to the components with low molecular weight. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of keratinophilic fungi and aerobic Actinomycetes in soil of city parks in Gorgan. Objectives: In this study, we surveyed the city park soils of Gorgan (a northern province of Iran) to determine the identities and diversity of soil aerobic Actinomycetes, keratinophilic and non-keratinophilic fungi. Materials and Methods: A total of 244 soil samples were collected from 22 diferent parks of Gorgan, North of Iran. The samples were collected from the superfcial layer with depth not exceeding than 0-10 cm in sterile polyethylene bags. We used hair bait technique for isolation keratinophilic fungi. The colonies identifed by macroscopic and microscopic characterization after slide culturing. Actinomycetes were isolated by antibiotic dilution methods and detected by using physiological tests such as Lysozyme, Casein, Xanthine, Hypoxanthine, Gelatin, Urea Broth, and modifed acid-fast stain. Results: Totally, 75 isolates of aerobic Actinomycetes were detected that Actinomadura madurae and Nocardia asteroides were the most prevalent strains, with 14.66 and 28% prevalence respectively. Microsporum gypseum was more frequent than other keratinophilic fungi (22.96%) and Aspergillus spp. was the most species of saprophyte fungi (15.92%). Conclusions: This study showed that the collected soil from studied areas was rich of keratinophilic fungi and Actinomycetes, therefore hygiene protocol should be taken to prevent the spread of pathogenic and saprophytes fungi in the environment of susceptible person. © 2013, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Synthetic dye decolorization by three sources of fungal laccase

Decolorization of six synthetic dyes using three sources of fungal laccase with the origin of Aspergillus oryzae, Trametes versicolor, and Paraconiothyrium variabile was investigated. Among them, the enzyme from P. variabile was the most efficient which decolorized bromophenol blue (100%), commassie brilliant blue (91%), panseu-S (56%), Rimazol brilliant blue R (RBBR; 47%), Congo red (18.5%), and methylene blue (21.3%) after 3 h incubation in presence of hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT; 5 mM) as the laccase mediator. It was also observed that decolorization efficiency of all dyes was enhanced by increasing of HBT concentration from 0.1 mM to 5 mM. Laccase from A. oryzae was able to remove 53% of methylene blue and 26% of RBBR after 30 min incubation in absence of HBT, but the enzyme could not efficiently decolorize other dyes even in presence of 5 mM of HBT. In the case of laccase from T. versicolor, only RBBR was decolorized (93%) in absence of HBT after 3 h incubation. © 2012 Forootanfar et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Halotolerant Ability and α-Amylase Activity of Some Saltwater Fungal Isolates

Four halotolerant fungal isolates originating from the saltwater Lake Urmia in Iran were selected during a screening program for salt resistance and α-amylase activity. The isolates were identified based on sequencing the ITS region and a part of the β-tubulin gene, as Penicillium chrysogenum (isolate U1; CBS 132820), Fusarium incarnatum (isolate U2; CBS 132821), and Penicillium polonicum (isolate U3; CBS 132822, and isolate U4; CBS 132823). The growth of these isolates was determined by measuring the colony diameter and mycelia dry weight in Sabouraud dextrose agar and yeast nitrogen base medium supplemented with NaCl, KCl, and LiCl. Isolate U4 showed a growth up in 15% NaCl and U1 was the only isolate that could grow in 20% KCl. None of the strains grew in a media containing LiCl. The salt supplemented medium did not increase the size of colony diameter in all isolates (p > 0.05). The ability of the selected isolates for amylase production was quantitatively tested and showed that P. polonicum isolate U4 was the most potent producer of amylase with a yield of 260.9 U/L after 60 h, whereas P. polonicum isolate U3 was the lowest one with a production level of 97.9 U/L after 48 h. P. polonicum isolate U4 could be a suitable candidate for production of amylase on an industrial scale after optimization. © 2013 by School of Pharmacy

The Antibacterial Effect of Low Temperature Stored Amnion on Growth of Escherichia Coli, Staphylococcus Aureus and Pseudomonas Aeruginosa

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Amniotic membrane (AM) has a lot of applied properties like anti-bacterial characteristic mediated by peptides such as elafin. Because of limitations in use of freshly prepared tissue, there are various methods for long-term preservation of amniotic membrane. This study was conducted to determine the effect of cryopreservation, as one of the common methods of preservation of amniotic membrane, on its antibacterial property against the growth of commonly occurring bacteria in the clinic. METHODS: In this experimental study, the effect of fresh AM (from elective Cesarean) and cryopreserved (by 10% DMSO) AM on the growth of three standard bacterial strains including Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and two clinical isolated strains of E.coli were evaluated using disk diffusion test. In this method, pieces of fresh or cryopreserved AM was placed in the culture plate after bacterial culturing. After incubation, the number of plates with inhibition zone and amount of inhibition zone were measured. The amount of elafin was measured in AM samples using ELISA. RESULTS: Fresh AM inhibit the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and two clinical isolated strains of E.coli. However, it has no effect on the growth of standard strain of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus strain. There is no difference in the number of plates including inhibition zone between fresh and cryopreserved AM. The amount of elafin decreased significantly in cryopreserved AM (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that the anti-bacterial property of the AM depends on bacterial species. In addition, the cryopreservation process maintains anti-bacterial properties of amniotic stem cells

vHOG, a multispecies vertebrate ontology of homologous organs groups

Motivation: Most anatomical ontologies are species-specific, whereas a framework for comparative studies is needed. We describe the vertebrate Homologous Organs Groups ontology, vHOG, used to compare expression patterns between species

The SwissLipids knowledgebase for lipid biology

Motivation: Lipids are a large and diverse group of biological molecules with roles in membrane formation, energy storage and signaling. Cellular lipidomes may contain tens of thousands of structures, a staggering degree of complexity whose significance is not yet fully understood. High-throughput mass spectrometry-based platforms provide a means to study this complexity, but the interpretation of lipidomic data and its integration with prior knowledge of lipid biology suffers from a lack of appropriate tools to manage the data and extract knowledge from it. Results: To facilitate the description and exploration of lipidomic data and its integration with prior biological knowledge, we have developed a knowledge resource for lipids and their biology—SwissLipids. SwissLipids provides curated knowledge of lipid structures and metabolism which is used to generate an in silico library of feasible lipid structures. These are arranged in a hierarchical classification that links mass spectrometry analytical outputs to all possible lipid structures, metabolic reactions and enzymes. SwissLipids provides a reference namespace for lipidomic data publication, data exploration and hypothesis generation. The current version of SwissLipids includes over 244 000 known and theoretically possible lipid structures, over 800 proteins, and curated links to published knowledge from over 620 peer-reviewed publications. We are continually updating the SwissLipids hierarchy with new lipid categories and new expert curated knowledge. Availability: SwissLipids is freely available at http://www.swisslipids.org/. Contact: [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics onlin

Morphological, physiological, and transcriptional responses of the freshwater diatom Fragilaria crotonensis to elevated pH conditions

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by the toxin-producing cyanobacteria Microcystis spp., can increase water column pH. While the effect(s) of these basified conditions on the bloom formers are a high research priority, how these pH shifts affect other biota remains understudied. Recently, it was shown these high pH levels decrease growth and Si deposition rates in the freshwater diatom Fragilaria crotonensis and natural Lake Erie (Canada-US) diatom populations. However, the physiological mechanisms and transcriptional responses of diatoms associated with these observations remain to be documented. Here, we examined F. crotonensis with a set of morphological, physiological, and transcriptomic tools to identify cellular responses to high pH. We suggest 2 potential mechanisms that may contribute to morphological and physiological pH effects observed in F. crotonensis. Moreover, we identified a significant upregulation of mobile genetic elements in the F. crotonensis genome which appear to be an extreme transcriptional response to this abiotic stress to enhance cellular evolution rates–a process we have termed “genomic roulette.” We discuss the ecological and biogeochemical effects high pH conditions impose on fresh waters and suggest a means by which freshwater diatoms such as F. crotonensis may evade high pH stress to survive in a “basified” future