Trachyspic acid, a new metabolite that inhibited heparanase, was isolated from the culture broth of Talaromyces trachyspermus SANK 12191. Its structure was deduced from NMR spectral analyses and chemical reactions as a tricarboxylic acid derivative containing a spiroketal. The IC50 value of trachyspic acid against heparanase was 36 microM.

This review covers important anticancer and antifungal compounds reported from filamentous fungi and in particular from Aspergillus, Penicillium and Talaromyces. The taxonomy of these fungi is not trivial, so a focus of this review has been to report the correct identity of the producing organisms based on substantial previous in-house chemotaxonomic studies.

Aspergillus flavus, the most important cause of aflatoxin contamination, has two major morphotypes commonly termed ‘S’ and ‘L’ strains. Strain S isolates, on average, produce more aflatoxins than the strain L isolates. The S strain has been implicated as the primary causal agent of several contamination events in both North America and Africa. Strain S incidence and A. flavus propagules were qu...

Distribution of trace element levels in corn germ fractions from kernels naturally infected with Aspergillus flavus and from kernels free of the fungus demonstrated an association between the presence of A. flavus and higher levels of metals. A. flavus production of aflatoxin on various autoclaved corn media showed that ground, whole corn was an excellent substrate; similar high levels of toxin...

Introduction Over the last decade extra-pulmonary aspergillosis has been reported with increasing frequency from the Middle and Far East. In the late 60s, 17 cases of paranasal aspergilloma, some with orbital involvement, were reported from the Sudan; Aspergillus flavus was found to be the causative organism in all 17 (Miloshev et al., 1966, 1969). A further 60 cases have been described from No...

AIMS In a search for an antifungal peptide with a high activity against Aspergillus flavus, Bacillus subtilis AU195 was selected from a collection of isolates with antagonistic activity against A. flavus. METHODS AND RESULTS To identify the antifungal peptides, a protein purification scheme was developed based on the detection of the antifungal activity in purified fractions against A. flavus...

By using agar well diffusion assay, antifungal activity of aqueous extract prepared from Egyptian garlic (Allium sativum L.) was evaluated in vitro against two strains of Aspergillus flavus (OC1 and OC10) causing human ocular infection. The recorded minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for growth inhibition of both strains was 3.60 mg/ml. Aqueous garlic extract (AGE) was used in successive in...

Aspergillus flavus is an efficient producer of mycotoxins, particularly aflatoxin B₁, probably the most hepatocarcinogenic naturally-occurring compound. Although the inducing agents of toxin synthesis are not unanimously identified, there is evidence that oxidative stress is one of the main actors in play. In our study, we use menadione, a quinone extensively implemented in studies on ROS respo...

Aspergillus flavus is a common saprophyte and opportunistic pathogen that produces numerous secondary metabolites. The primary objectives of the A. flavus genomics program are to reduce and eliminate aflatoxin contamination in food and feed and to discover genetic factors that contribute to plant and animal pathogenicity. A. flavus expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and whole-genome sequencing have...

Infection of maize both pre- and postharvest by Aspergillus flavus is a severe agricultural problem in the southern United States. Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites produced by A. flavus and are carcinogenic to humans and animals upon ingestion. Extensive research has been conducted to identify sources of resistance to A. flavus in maize. Some maize genotypes exhibit greater resistance to A....