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Fungal species such as Aspergillus, Fusarium and Alternaria can contaminate agricultural commodities in the field or during storage and produce mycotoxins. They usually pose threats to human and animal health and can result in significant economic loss. Specifically, Fusarium graminearum, the major causative agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB) of small cereals produces mycotoxins including deoxynivalenol, nivalenol, and zearalenone. Conventional detection methods are time-consuming, expensive and require large-scale instruments and skilled technicians. Furthermore, detection of the toxins in post-harvested grain is a process that can only be accomplished after the grain is harvested. Therefore, our goal was to develop a molecular point-of-detection (POD) platform which was sensitive and specific to detect low levels of toxin-producing fungi within agricultural products in the field and could also be used directly in food products. Herein, we investigated a rapid molecular POD assay called loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to detect low levels of genomic DNA extracted from Fusarium graminearum, which is often associated with toxicological potential and food safety issues. Both fluorescent and colorimetric LAMP assays were characterized and optimized to detect low-level of pathogens within 70 and 50 minutes respectively. In summary, LAMP offers an efficient assay format for rapid and specific nucleic acid-based detection of mycotoxins in-field use. Coupled with our custom-designed microchip, our platform provides a proof-of-principle to achieve low-cost and widespread foodborne pathogens testing at the POD which is highly desirable to keep analysis time and costs low, but more importantly be a field use application.
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