Molecular Characterization of Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species in dried Traditional foods in Zimbabwe

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dc.contributor.authorDangwa, N.
dc.contributor.authorMwenje, E.
dc.contributor.authorDhlamini, Z.
dc.contributor.authorSiwela, A.H
dc.date.accessioned2025-04-23T10:06:50Z
dc.date.available2025-04-23T10:06:50Z
dc.date.issued2014-01-10
dc.description.abstractThe presence of aflatoxin producing Aspergillusspp in sixty samples of six selected traditional foods sold on the Bulawayo open market in Zimbabwe was investigated. Ten samples of each of the following commodities were bought from the market; dried groundnuts, dried cowpeas, dried maize, dried cowpea leaves, dried mopane worms and dried Cleome gynandra leaves and analysed for the presence of aflatoxigenic aspergillus. Moisture content of the samples was determined and another portion of the samples was plated on petri dishes containing Sabouraud Dextrose Agar (SDA) and incubated at 28 C. A total of 35 isolates was obtained and these were characterised according to their morphology as well as the type of aflatoxins they produced as determined by thin layer chromatography. Four distinct morphological groups were found and they were classified as Aspergillu sparasiticus (57%); Aspergillusniger (17%); Aspergillus tamarii (17%) and Aspergillusflavus (8%). These results were validated by using DNA primers of the structural genes, aflD (nor-1), aflM (ver-1) and aflP (omt-1) and the regulatory gene aflR to discriminate between aflatoxigenic and nonaflatoxigenic strains after amplifying DNA of the fungal strains. None of the isolates produced all the four genes involved in the aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway although they had shown positive results on the biochemical tests. Out of the 35 isolates obtained, 18 of them were aflatoxigenic and these isolates were from mopane worms (9), cowpeas (4), groundnuts (3) and Cleome gynandra (1). This investigation showed that dried traditional foods in Zimbabwe were contaminated by the aflatoxigenic fungus, Aspergillus, probably due to improper drying of the commodities, coupled by prevailing environmental conditions from packaging to the selling points.
dc.identifier.citationDangwa, N., Mwenje, E., Dhlamini, Z. and Siwela, A.H., 2014. Molecular Characterization of Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species in dried Traditional foods in Zimbabwe. Advances in Bioresearch, 5(1).
dc.identifier.issn2277-1573
dc.identifier.urihttp://196.220.97.103:4000/handle/123456789/635
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSociety of Education
dc.titleMolecular Characterization of Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus species in dried Traditional foods in Zimbabwe
dc.typeArticle
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