Occurrence of toxicity among protease, amylase, and color mutants of a nontoxic soy sauce koji mold

Abstract

A soy sauce koji mold, Aspergillusflavus var. columnaris Raper and Fennel (ATCC 44310), was treated with UV irradiation to obtain mutant strains possessing high protease activities, high amylase activities, and light-colored conidia. Selected mutant strains were tested for toxicity, and some were found acutely toxic to weanling rats, although all were negative for aflatoxin production.

Isolation and characterization of an elastinolytic proteinase from Aspergillus flavus

“…Members of the genus Aspergillus make many different proteolytic enzymes which encompass all four classes of proteinases (5). Much of the work in this area has focused on proteinase production by those species important in the fermentation of food products, such as the koji mold, Aspergillus oryzae (9,12,30). However, proteinases from the pathogenic species Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus have also been described (5,33).…”