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Title: Breeding aflatoxin resistant maize lines using recent advances in technologies-a review

Author
item Brown, Robert
item MENKIR, ABEBE - International Institute Of Tropical Agriculture (IITA)
item CHEN, ZHI-YUAN - Louisiana State University
item Bhatnagar, Deepak
item Yu, Jiujiang
item YAO, HAIBO - Mississippi State University
item Cleveland, Thomas

Submitted to: Food Additives & Contaminants
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/3/2013
Publication Date: 8/30/2013
Citation: Brown, R.L., Menkir, A., Chen, Z-Y., Bhatnagar, D., Yu, J., Yao, H., Cleveland, T.E. 2013. Breeding aflatoxin resistant maize lines using recent advances in technologies-a review. Food Additives & Contaminants. Part A, (30)8:1382-1391.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Aflatoxin contamination caused by Aspergillus flavus infection of corn is a significant and chronic threat to corn being used as food or feed. Contamination of crops at levels of 20 ppb or higher (as regulated by the FDA) by this toxin and potent carcinogen makes the crop unsalable. This review focuses on corn which is the top U.S. crop and the basis of products ranging from breakfast cereal to ethanol. Corn is also ‘nature’s example’ of natural heritable resistance to aflatoxin contamination thereby serving as a model for enhancing resistance to aflatoxin contamination in other crops. Corn has been cultivated for over 8,700 years after its cultivation from a wild grass in the lowland areas of southwestern Mexico. In 2011, the economic value of the U.S. corn crop was 76 billion, with U.S. growers producing an estimated 12 billion bushels, more than a third of the world's supply. Furthermore, corn is the largest production grain crop worldwide, providing food for billions of people and livestock and critical feedstock for production of biofuels. Thus, the economics and significance of corn as a food crop and the threat to food safety due to aflatoxin contamination of this crop have prompted the many research efforts to identify resistance in corn to aflatoxin contamination.