RAPID MOLECULAR DETECTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF AFLATOXINS PRODUCING FUNGAL GENE, AFLQ, IN INFECTED MAIZE SAMPLES USING NORMAL PCRNAGALAKSHMI S, MANORAMA K , ANURAG CHATHURVEDI , SREEDHAR M , KRISHNA BHAGAVATULA M R , SUNIL-CHIDAMBAR K , RAVICHARAN A , PRATHIMA N , DURGARANI CH. VaAND REDDY VLNAbstract Maize (Zea maysL.) is one of the cereals which serves as a main source of food, forage and processed products for industry with a production of around 790 million tonnes. As a staple food it provides more than one-third of the calories and proteins in some countries. Aflatoxins are a group of chemicals produced by certain mold fungi such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus.Aflatoxins are harmful or fatal to livestock and human beings as they are carcinogenic. The present study was undertaken with the main aim of detecting the presence of the genes encoding the production of mycotoxin, namely, aflatoxin in the infected maize samples. One hundred and thirty maize samples infected with the fungi Aspergillus parasiticus andAspergillus flavus were collected from the markets, godowns and farmersÂ’ fields. DNA isolated from such maize samples was amplified in PCR using four sets of forward and reverse gene specific primers designed using DNASTAR Lasergene 8.0 version software from original gene sequences (obtained from GENBANK) of the specific gene, aflq. The fragments obtained were resolved on the bioanalyzer, DNA 1000 Labchip R , for generating data on the size of amplified fragments. A 168 base pair fragment of aflqtarget sequence was amplified in twenty nine maize samples. This study helps in easy detection of mycotoxins present in the contaminated samples in storage which are unfit for consumption thereby avoiding the hazardous influence of such toxins on human and animal health.
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