ARS Cotty Lab The University of Arizona

Aflatoxins are toxic chemicals that certain fungi produce during crop infection. Crops with high aflatoxin content have greatly reduced value. We seek methods to reduce aflatoxin contamination. Our research is directed at both the causative fungi and the contamination process. We use variability within and among fungal communities of aflatoxin production fungi to provide insights into many aspects of the ecology and biology of these fungi.

Aspects addressed include the etiology and epidemiology of contamination, as well as, adaptation, divergence, dispersal, pathogenicity, morphogenesis, and cellular regulation. We seek to understand forces that induce and maintain variability within fungal communities, as well as, forces that influence the composition of fungal communities. Knowledge of contamination and the causal fungi is used to develop techniques to reduce vulnerability of crops to aflatoxin contamination.

A current major emphasis is collaborations with domestic and international partners seeking to reduce the risk of aflatoxin contamination by reducing the aflatoxin producing potential of fungi resident in agricultural fields through the application of atoxigenic strains of Aspergillus flavus. Other aspects of our work include characterization of factors that influence aflatoxin production, and identification of crop characteristics that dictate the level of susceptibility to contamination. See Research for greater detail.