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Volume 3, Issue 2 (Suppl) Med Mycol Open Access
ISSN: 2471-8521 Mycology 2017
September 25-26, 2017
Page 36
conferenceseries .com
September 25-26, 2017 Chicago, USA
2nd International Conference on
Mycology & Mushrooms
Preventing mycotoxin contamination of corn through biological control and transgenic insect protection
C orn is a global food and feed staple, totaling over 1 billion metric tons annually and the crop in the United States alone
was valued at over $50 billion US dollars. This commodity can be infected with fungal plant pathogens in storage or
while growing in the field. Such fungal contamination is a serious threat because some fungi may contaminate the grain
with mycotoxins. The mycotoxin of greatest concern in corn production is aflatoxin, a secondary metabolite of some strains
of Aspergillus flavus and other Aspergillus spp. Fumonisin, produced by Fusarium verticillioides, is another mycotoxin that
is important in certain environments. These secondary metabolites may lead to the grain being rejected and add expense
to grain processing and marketing. A number of field studies, particularly in the Southern U.S., have validated the use of
biocontrol fungi to prevent aflatoxin contamination. For example, a three-year, fourteen site experiments demonstrated a
$200 per hectare increase in net returns by using a product for the biocontrol of aflatoxin. Other studies have examined the
transgenic insect protection, such as Bt corn, to prevent fumonisin contamination, by reducing damage from Lepidopteran
insects and subsequent opportunistic fungal infections. More recently, improved transgenic corn hybrids have greater than
90% reduction in earworm (Helicoverpa zea) damage and a 60% reduction in fumonisin compared to isogenic hybrids without
insect protection. The threat of mycotoxin contamination is highly variable and difficult to predict, but it may be possible to
use biological control with transgenic insect protection to provide broad and robust protection frommycotoxin contamination
in corn.
Biography
Mark A Weaver has published research papers on cover crops, microbial herbicide metabolism in soils and wetlands, and biological control of weeds. His work
includes development of biocontrol strains of Aspergillus flavus and the post-release tracking of biocontrol agents. Presently he is developing molecular tools for
landscape-scale monitoring of A. flavus.
Mark AWeaver
Agriculture Research Service, USA
Mark A Weaver, Med Mycol Open Access, 3:2, 2017
DOI: 10.21767/2471-8521-C1-001