Browsing by Author "Perrone, Giancarlo"

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    Evidence of the involvement of a cyclase gene in the biosynthesis of ochratoxin A in Aspergillus carbonarius
    (MDPI, 2021-12-13) Ferrara, Massimo; Gallo, Antonia; Cervini, Carla; Gambacorta, Lucia; Solfrizzo, Michele; Baker, Scott E.; Perrone, Giancarlo
    Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a well-known mycotoxin with wide distribution in food and feed. Fungal genome sequencing has great utility for identifying secondary metabolites gene clusters for known and novel compounds. A comparative analysis of the OTA-biosynthetic cluster in A. steynii, A. westerdijkiae, A. niger, A. carbonarius, and P. nordicum has revealed a high synteny in OTA cluster organization in five structural genes (otaA, otaB, ota, otaR1, and otaD). Moreover, a recent detailed comparative genome analysis of Aspergilli OTA producers led to the identification of a cyclase gene, otaY, located in the OTA cluster between the otaA and otaB genes, encoding for a predicted protein with high similarity to SnoaLs domain. These proteins have been shown to catalyze ring closure steps in the biosynthesis of polyketide antibiotics produced in Streptomyces. In the present study, we demonstrated an upregulation of the cyclase gene in A. carbonarius under OTA permissive conditions, consistent with the expression trends of the other OTA cluster genes and their role in OTA biosynthesis by complete gene deletion. Our results pointed out the involvement of a cyclase gene in OTA biosynthetic pathway for the first time. They represent a step forward in the understanding of the molecular basis of OTA biosynthesis in A. carbonarius.
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    Insights into existing and future fungal and mycotoxin contamination of cured meats
    (Elsevier, 2019-07-31) Perrone, Giancarlo; Rodriguez, Alicia; Magistà, Donato; Magan, Naresh
    Cured meats are widely consumed in various regions of the world and, as for other foods, consumers are increasingly aware of the need for better quality and safety. Various fungal communities can colonise meat products during their curing with beneficial or detrimental effects depending on the dominant species. Some contribute to flavour, anti-oxidative and protective effects, while others cause spoilage, including undesirable off-flavours/odours and mycotoxin contamination. Recently, increasing research on fungal ecophysiology and mycotoxin occurrence, especially of ochratoxin A (OTA) and aflatoxins, has been shown in these products. This review addresses the existing and new knowledge which is available to provide insights into the reasons why certain fungi colonise cured meats including their ecology, the importance of critical control points and effective use of new monitoring methods for evaluating the risk of mycotoxin contamination of these products.
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    Interacting climate change factors (CO2 and temperature cycles) effects on growth, secondary metabolite gene expression and phenotypic ochratoxin A production by Aspergillus carbonarius strains on a grape-based matrix
    (Elsevier, 2019-11-12) Cervini, Carla; Verheecke-Vaessen, Carol; Ferrara, Massimo; García-Cela, Esther; Magistà, Donato; Medina, Angel; Gallo, Antonia; Magan, Naresh; Perrone, Giancarlo
    Little is known on the impact that climate change (CC) may have on Aspergillus carbonarius and Ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination of grapes, especially in the Mediterranean region where in CC scenarios temperature are expected to increase by +2–5 °C and CO2 from 400 to 800/1200 ppm. This study examined the effect of (i) current and increased temperature in the alternating 11.5 h dark/12.5 h light cycle (15–28 °C vs 18–34 °C), representative of the North Apulia area, South Italy and (ii) existing and predicted CO2 concentrations (400 vs 1000 ppm), on growth, expression of biosynthetic genes (AcOTApks, AcOTAnrps, AcOTAhal, AcOTAp450, AcOTAbZIP) and regulatory genes of Velvet complex (laeA/veA/velB, “velvet complex”) involved in OTA biosynthesis and OTA phenotypic production by three strains of A. carbonarius. The experiments made on a grape-based matrix showed that elevated CO2 resulted in a general stimulation of growth and OTA production. These results were also supported by the up-regulation of both structural and regulatory genes involved in the OTA biosynthesis. Our work has shown for the first time that elevated CO2 concentration in the Mediterranean region may result in an increased risk of OTA contamination in the wine production chain.
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    MycoKey round table discussions of future directions in research on chemical detection methods, genetics and biodiversity of mycotoxins
    (MDPI, 2018-03-01) Leslie, John F.; Lattanzio, Veronica; Audenaert, Kris; Battilani, Paola; Cary, Jeffrey; Chulze, Sofia N.; De Saeger, Sarah; Gerardino, Annamaria; Karlovsky, Petr; Liao, Yu-Cai; Maragos, Chris M.; Meca, Giuseppe; Medina-Vayá, Ángel; Moretti, Antonio; Munkvold, Gary; Mulè, Giuseppina; Njobeh, Patrick; Pecorelli, Ivan; Perrone, Giancarlo; Pietri, Amedeo; Palazzini, Juan M.; Proctor, Robert H.; Rahayu, Endang S.; Ramírez, Maria L.; Samson, Robert; Stroka, Jörg; Sulyok, Michael; Sumarah, Mark; Waalwijk, Cees; Zhang, Qi; Zhang, Hao; Logrieco, Antonio F.
    MycoKey, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 project, includes a series of “Roundtable Discussions” to gather information on trending research areas in the field of mycotoxicology. This paper includes summaries of the Roundtable Discussions on Chemical Detection and Monitoring of mycotoxins and on the role of genetics and biodiversity in mycotoxin production. Discussions were managed by using the nominal group discussion technique, which generates numerous ideas and provides a ranking for those identified as the most important. Four questions were posed for each research area, as well as two questions that were common to both discussions. Test kits, usually antibody based, were one major focus of the discussions at the Chemical Detection and Monitoring roundtable because of their many favorable features, e.g., cost, speed and ease of use. The second area of focus for this roundtable was multi-mycotoxin detection protocols and the challenges still to be met to enable these protocols to become methods of choice for regulated mycotoxins. For the genetic and biodiversity group, both the depth and the breadth of trending research areas were notable. For some areas, e.g., microbiome studies, the suggested research questions were primarily of a descriptive nature. In other areas, multiple experimental approaches, e.g., transcriptomics, proteomics, RNAi and gene deletions, are needed to understand the regulation of toxin production and mechanisms underlying successful biological controls. Answers to the research questions will provide starting points for developing acceptable prevention and remediation processes. Forging a partnership between scientists and appropriately-placed communications experts was recognized by both groups as an essential step to communicating risks, while retaining overall confidence in the safety of the food supply and the integrity of the food production chain.
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    Toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins in a climate change scenario: Ecology, genomics, distribution, prediction and prevention of the risk
    (MDPI, 2020-09-29) Perrone, Giancarlo; Ferrara, Massimo; Medina, Angel; Pascale, Michelangelo; Magan, Naresh
    Toxigenic fungi and mycotoxins are very common in food crops, with noticeable differences in their host specificity in terms of pathogenicity and toxin contamination. In addition, such crops may be infected with mixtures of mycotoxigenic fungi, resulting in multi-mycotoxin contamination. Climate represents the key factor in driving the fungal community structure and mycotoxin contamination levels pre- and post-harvest. Thus, there is significant interest in understanding the impact of interacting climate change-related abiotic factors (especially increased temperature, elevated CO2 and extremes in water availability) on the relative risks of mycotoxin contamination and impacts on food safety and security. We have thus examined the available information from the last decade on relative risks of mycotoxin contamination under future climate change scenarios and identified the gaps in knowledge. This has included the available scientific information on the ecology, genomics, distribution of toxigenic fungi and intervention strategies for mycotoxin control worldwide. In addition, some suggestions for prediction and prevention of mycotoxin risks are summarized together with future perspectives and research needs for a better understanding of the impacts of climate change scenarios.