Occurrence of black Aspergilli in indoor environments of six countries

Abstract

Black Aspergilli (Aspergillus section Nigri) are widely distributed in various habitats. They act as food spoilage organisms, human pathogens, and mycotoxin producers and are frequently encountered in indoor environments. Black Aspergilli, specifically A. niger, A. welwitschiae, and A. carbonarius, produce different ochratoxins and fumonisins. Ochratoxins are known to induce renal disorders following inhalation, which necessitates the determination of potential mycotoxin-producing species in our environment. This paper aimed to compare the diversity and species distribution of black Aspergilli in the indoor environments of six different countries using morphological and molecular methods. A total of 178 black Aspergillus isolates were identified from six countries. In contrast with results from previous studies, A. niger was not the only black Aspergillus detected in indoor air. Species distribution differed among countries, although the distribution in European countries (Croatia, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Turkey) with a temperate climate was considerably similar. The highest species diversity was observed in indoor samples from Thailand, while the lowest was found in Algeria. Potentially ochratoxin-and fumonisin-producing fungi were detected in the indoor air of all six countries. Further studies need to clarify the effect of these fungi and their mycotoxins on human and animal health.

Calm Before the Storm: A Glimpse into the Secondary Metabolism of Aspergillus welwitschiae, the Etiologic Agent of the Sisal Bole Rot

“…However, in our results, fum21 is not present in the fum cluster at all, with short similar regions located upstream of protein b, a flanking gene of the fum cluster. As for ota , the cluster seems to be complete, as described in the results (Figure 4B), suggesting that the regulation of this compound depends on factors other than gene viability, which corroborates the results from the literature, describing A. welwitschiae as a rare ochratoxin producer, if compared with A. niger [36,37,38].…”

Environmental characteristics and taxonomy of microscopic fungi isolated from washing machines

“…Similarly to fusaria, certain members of the genus Apergillus are also able to produce mycotoxins (Samson, 2010). In Hungarian households, black aspergilli are sometimes present (Varga et al, 2014). They relatively rarely colonize walls, but spores were frequently detected in house dust (Magyar et al, 2017).…”

Metabolomic Analysis of Aspergillus niger Isolated From the International Space Station Reveals Enhanced Production Levels of the Antioxidant Pyranonigrin A

“…In order to understand the characteristics of microbes residing in the International Space Station (ISS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has implemented a robust microbial monitoring system ( Pierson et al, 2013 ). The filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger has been reported to be a predominant ISS isolate ( Checinska et al, 2015 ), and is frequently detected in other built environments ( Haleem Khan and Mohan Karuppayil, 2012 ; Varga et al, 2014 ). A. niger is a melanized fungal species commonly used in the biotech industry as a production host for citric acid and enzymes ( Schuster et al, 2002 ).…”