Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Rodgers, John

Committee Member

Wilkinson, Jeff

Committee Member

Choi, Jinmu

Committee Member

Williams, W. Paul

Date of Degree

8-8-2009

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Aflatoxin is a carcinogen produced by the fungus Aspergillus flavus that causes millions of dollars in agriculture losses in the southeastern US. This thesis examines the dispersal of A. flavus on two corn inbred lines, resistant (Mp313E) and susceptible (B73), which differ in total aflatoxin accumulation after infection with A. flavus. After inoculating corn kernels with the fungus an RNA analysis was used to determine the location (number of kernels away from inoculation site) and abundance of A. flavus at weekly intervals. A. flavus started its spread at 7 days after inoculation (DAI) on both corn lines. The B73 corn line showed a constant spread of 3.4mm per day until the entire ear was infected at 21 DAI. The spread on Mp313E did not proceed beyond 3 kernels away from the inoculation site following 7 DAI. The results are significant because they show a faster rate of spread than previously reported and they help quantify the ability of Mp313E to mitigate infection.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17847

Comments

Spatial Dispersion||Spatial Analysis||Ubiquitin mRNA||Aspergillus flavus

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