Identification of Aspergillus Fumigatus using Molecular Techniques

Abstract

Plant pathogenic fungi belong to the Kingdom Fungi comprising of over 100,000 registered species grouped into about 4,300 genera. Many of these fungi infect a variety of cereals particularly stored condition. A study was conducted to evaluate the occurrence of Plant pathogenic fungi associated with stored Sorghum vulgare grains. The fungal was subjected to the fungal load for exact identification using the molecular biology technique. The fungal isolates were isolated from the collected grains. Results revealed that Genus Aspergillus fumigatus was the most frequent isolate which are known to produce Aflatoxins. A combination of many different isolates was present on the grains. The molecular identification method using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) helped in the identification of fungi at the species level with precision and in the least possible time. In conclusion, the isolated species were identified morphologically as Aspergillus fumigatus. The fungal samples were then identified through molecular techniques by DNA sequencing which was identified as Aspergillus fumigatus. The molecular techniques used in this study, has added great benefits to the process of distinguishing between similar species of fungi in comparison with the classical techniques. Furthermore, there is a need for having a National Level, Germplasm collection centre and detailed database of all the naturally occurring post-harvest Plant pathogenic fungi for easy intervention and timely overcoming of situations in case of any emergency.