Detection of Fusarium sp. contamination in corn by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

Fusarium verticillioides is a primary corn pathogen and one of the main producers of fumonisins, a group of mycotoxins that cause several diseases in animals and probably also affect humans. An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) based on polyclonal antibodies was developed to detect the exoantigen of this fungus in corn and its correlation with traditional methods for mould detection was evaluated. Forty freshly harvested corn samples were analysed for F. verticillioides exoantigens, as well as for total mould count, ergosterol and fumonisin levels in order to evaluate the relationship between these parameters. In addition, F. verticillioides was grown in brain heart infusion (BHI) broth in order to evaluate the correlation between biomass and exoantigen concentration. There was no significant correlation between exoantigen concentration and total mould count, Fusarium sp. count and fumonisin levels. The correlation coefficient between exoantigens and ergosterol content was 0.52 and between biomass and F. verticillioides exoantigens in BHI broth was 0.84. These results suggest that this ic-ELISA has potential for Fusarium sp. detection in corn samples.