Contents



Preface

Aflatoxin B1, a class-chemical carcinogen mainly produced by *Aspergillus flavus*, has noticeable toxicity because of its organophilism, mutagenic features, and carcinogenicity. Progression in understanding aflatoxin B1 has greatly improved with new techniques in genome sequencing and the development of molecular methods and tools that enable rapid molecular and genetic analyses for individual genomes. Especially, the genetics of aflatoxin B1 biosynthesis is regarded as a model to gain insight into fungal metabolism. This book reviews a number of important

This book consists of 11 chapters, divided into four parts. The chapters are written by experts in the field of aflatoxins. Select topics are presented here to provide a snapshot of current understanding of the occurrence and metabolism of aflatoxin B1, the contamination, exposure, and detection of aflatoxin B1, and the

The first part, Chapters 1–4, is devoted to the occurrence of aflatoxin B1, focusing on its chemistry, biological metabolism, and food exposure and control. In the first chapter, Joseph Owuor Lalah et al. review the chemistry, synthesis, analysis, and identification techniques, production conditions, and exposure information of aflatoxin B1 in Kenya. The second chapter by Nancy Nleya et al. illuminates aflatoxin occurrence in dairy feeds on the basis of analyses from a case in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Adekunle Odunayo Adejuwon et al. in the third chapter describe the potential value of aflatoxin B1-producing toxigenic strains of *Aspergillus flavus*, *Aspergillus parasiticus*, *Penicillium citrinum*, and *Penicillium rubrun*. Interestingly, their findings provide an important method for the industrial production of α-amylases. In the fourth chapter, Yamina Ben Miri et al. systematically review prevention by essential oils of the occurrence and growth of *A. flavus* and aflatoxin

The second part of the book consists of Chapters 5 and 6 and deals with an updated view of aflatoxin B1 detection. In the fifth chapter, Xing-Zhizi Wang summarizes and evaluates the detection methods for aflatoxin B1, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, high-performance liquid chromatography, and thin-layer chromatography. The sixth chapter by Qin-Qin Long et al. displays the effects of the aflatoxin B1-DNA adduct in the nucleus from peripheral blood white cells on the risk and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma investigated via a hospitalbased case–control study. In their study, they collected relatively large samples without hepatitis virus B or C infection, including 380 patients with pathologically diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma and 588 controls without any evidence of hepatic diseases. Their results show that the increasing amount of blood aflatoxin B1-DNA adducts significantly increase the risk and poor outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma. This is indicative of the serum aflatoxin B1-DNA adducts acting as a

The third part, consisting of Chapters 7–10, discusses the toxifications of aflatoxin B1 and particularly focuses on genic toxification, cytotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and

toxicological effects and detoxification of aflatoxin.

potential valuable detection method for aflatoxin B1.

topics related to aflatoxin B1.

B1 production in food systems.
