Aspergillus flavus, Aflatoxins, and Their Effects on Crop Production and Food Safety

Dear Colleagues,

Aspergillus flavus is a soil-borne opportunistic fungal pathogen that infects important agricultural crops such as maize, peanut, and cotton, and produces the most carcinogenic naturally occurring mycotoxin known as aflatoxin, which causes hundreds of millions of dollars in economic losses and serious illnesses in human and domestic animals due to the congestion of aflatoxin-contaminated food or feed, especially in developing countries. Therefore, A. flavus infection and the subsequent aflatoxin accumulation is a major economic and food safety concern worldwide, and the situation is expected to worsen as a result of global warming and the associated climate change. The aim of the current Special Issue is to share/present some of the most recent research efforts in detecting and reducing A. flavus infection in susceptible crops, such as breeding for aflatoxin-tolerant varieties, applying biocontrol agents, adopting effective cultural practices and various post-harvest measures, and to highlight the latest understanding on the regulation of aflatoxin biosynthetic pathway genes in the fungus, the metabolism of aflatoxins in human and domestic animals, and various approaches to detoxify aflatoxins through post-harvest processing to reduce its economic and health impacts.

Dr. Zhi-Yuan Chen
Dr. Pooja Bhatnagar-Mathur
Guest Editors

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