Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16
Outputs Target Audience:Target audiences include general public and relevant scientists in industry, government sectors, and academia. Results generated from this work has been and will be published in a number of high-profile journals and presented at national, international and regional meetings of relevant associations, i.e., The Genetics Society of America, Gordon Research Conference, and the Food Research Institute (FRI) annual meetings. The PI interacted with industry R&D staffs, government regulators, academic researchers, and consumers on food safety issues and provided accurate, useful information and expertise through FRI annual meetings and Newsletters. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two PhD students supported by this Hatch have produced tremendous amounts of data which have greatly advanced our understanding of the regulatory and signaling mechanisms governing sporulation and mycotoxin production in variousAspergillusmolds. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results generated from this work have been published in a number of high-profile journals and presented at national, international and regional meetings of relevant associations, i.e., The Genetics Society of America, Gordon Research Conference, and the Food Research Institute (FRI) annual meetings. The PI interacted with industry R&D staffs, government regulators, academic researchers, and consumers on food safety issues and provided accurate, useful information and expertise through FRI annual meetings and Newsletters. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
Mycotoxins are toxic secondary metabolites produced by various fungi and can enter the food chain as a result of fungal infection of crops. Aflatoxins are a highly toxic and carcinogenic category of mycotoxins and can contaminate corn, cereals, peanuts and other oil-seed crops. The most important relevant issues facing grain and livestock producers are preventing mycotoxin contamination in food and feed, and reducing the deleterious effects of mycotoxins on livestock. The major aflatoxin-producing fungus Aspergillus flavus uses asexual spores (conidia) as the main means of dissemination and infection. In this project, we aimed to uncover the mechanisms controlling both aflatoxin production and sporulation focusing on the novel velvet regulatory factors in the major aflatoxigenic fungus A. flavus with a long-term goal of controlling both fungal infestation and aflatoxin contamination in foods and feeds. To accomplish the goals we have employed an innovative combination of genetic, biochemical and genomic approaches. Through the project, we found that the absence of certain velvet regulators (VeA, VelB, and VosB) causes multiple and severe developmental defects and the lack of aflatoxin production. Especially, we discovered that VelB is essential for proper sporulation, spore viability, sclerotia (protective structures) formation and aflatoxin production. Our studies provide better understanding of how sporulation is co-regulated with aflatoxin biosynthesis in A. flavus. Understanding the mechanisms governing sporulation and aflatoxin biosynthesis will reveal critical points in the regulation where targeted controls can be developed. Ultimately, we expect the outcomes to provide new insights into the development of safe and effective control strategies (e.g., new antifungal drugs or RNAi for fungi-specific regulators) for fungal dispersion and aflatoxin contamination.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Shin, K.-S., Park, H.-S., Kim, Y., Heo, I.-B., Kim, Y.-H. and Yu, J.-H. 2016 Aspergillus fumigatus spore proteomics and genetics reveal that VeA represses DefA-mediated DNA damage response. J Proteomics. 148: 26-35. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2016.07.022.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Leiter, E, Park, HS., Kwon, N-J., Han, K-H., Emri, T., Olah, V., Meszaros, I., Dienes, B., Vincze, J., Csernoch, L., Yu, J-H., and Pocsi, I. 2016. Characterization of the aodA, mnSOD, dnmA and pimA genes in Aspergillus nidulans Scientific Rep. 6:20523 (PMC4742808).
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Emri, T., Szarvas, V., Orosz, E., Antal, K., Park, H.S., Han, K.-H., Yu, J.-H., and Pocsi, I. 2015 Core oxidative stress response in Aspergillus nidulans. BMC Genomics. 16: 478.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Park, H-S., Yu, Y.M., Lee, M-K., Maeng, P.J. Kim, S.C., and Yu, J.-H. 2015. Velvet-mediated repression of ?-glucan synthesis in Aspergillus nidulans spores. Scientific Rep. 5:10199 | DOI: 10.1038/srep10199
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Park, H.-S., and Yu, J-H. 2016. Developmental regulators in Aspergillus fumigatus. J. Microbiol. 54:223-231
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Park, H.-S., and Yu, J.-H. 2016. Molecular biology of asexual sporulation in filamentous fungi. In The Mycota III, Dirk Hoffmeister (ed), Springer, New York, pp 3-19.
- Type:
Book Chapters
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Wu, M.-Y., and Yu, J.-H. 2015 Epigenetics of fungal secondary metabolism related genes,
In Biosynthesis and Molecular Genetics of Fungal Secondary Metabolites, Vol 2 Fungal Biology, Susanne Zeilinger, Juan-Francisco Mart�n, Carlos Garc�a-Estrada (Eds), Springer, New York pp. 29-42.
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