Fast and sensitive aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxins ELISAs for analysis of peanuts, maize and feed ingredients

Aflatoxins are a group of carcinogenic compounds produced by Aspergillus fungi that can grow on different agricultural crops. Both acute and chronic exposure to these mycotoxins can cause serious illness. Due to the high occurrence of aflatoxins in crops worldwide fast and cost-effective analytical methods are required for the identification of contaminated agricultural commodities before they are processed into final products and placed on the market. In order to provide new tools for aflatoxin screening two prototype fast ELISA methods: one for the detection of aflatoxin B₁ and the other for total aflatoxins were developed. Seven monoclonal antibodies with unique high sensitivity and at the same time good cross-reactivity profiles were produced. The monoclonal antibodies were characterized and two antibodies showing IC₅₀ of 0.037 ng/mL and 0.031 ng/mL for aflatoxin B₁ were applied in simple and fast direct competitive ELISA tests. The methods were validated for peanut matrix as this crop is one of the most affected by aflatoxin contamination. The detection capabilities of aflatoxin B₁ and total aflatoxins ELISAs were 0.4 μg/kg and 0.3 μg/kg for aflatoxin B₁, respectively, which are one of the lowest reported values. Total aflatoxins ELISA was also validated for the detection of aflatoxins B₂, G₁ and G₂. The application of the developed tests was demonstrated by screening 32 peanut samples collected from the UK retailers. Total aflatoxins ELISA was further applied to analyse naturally contaminated maize porridge and distiller's dried grain with solubles samples and the results were correlated with these obtained by UHPLC-MS/MS method.

The Kepler-454 system: a small, not-rocky inner planet, a Jovian world, and a distant companion

Kepler-454 (KOI-273) is a relatively bright (V = 11.69 mag), Sun-like star that hosts a transiting planet candidate in a 10.6 day orbit. From spectroscopy, we estimate the stellar temperature to be 5687 ± 50 K, its metallicity to be [m/H] = 0.32 ± 0.08, and the projected rotational velocity to be v sin i <2.4 km s^-1. We combine these values with a study of the asteroseismic frequencies from short cadence Kepler data to estimate the stellar mass to be , the radius to be 1.066 ± 0.012 R_o, and the age to be Gyr. We estimate the radius of the 10.6 day planet as 2.37 ± 0.13 R_⊕. Using 63 radial velocity observations obtained with the HARPS-N spectrograph on the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo and 36 observations made with the HIRES spectrograph at the Keck Observatory, we measure the mass of this planet to be 6.8 ± 1.4 M_⊕. We also detect two additional non-transiting companions, a planet with a minimum mass of 4.46 ± 0.12 M_J in a nearly circular 524 day orbit and a massive companion with a period >10 years and mass >12.1 M_J. The 12 exoplanets with radii ⊕ and precise mass measurements appear to fall into two populations, with those ⊕ following an Earth-like composition curve and larger planets requiring a significant fraction of volatiles. With a density of 2.76 ± 0.73 g cm^-3, Kepler-454b lies near the mass transition between these two populations and requires the presence of volatiles and/or H/He gas.