Protein Profiles of Aspergillus Species Isolated From the Tea Gardens andFactories Air in Northern Iran

Spoilage of tea (camellia sinensis) is often accompanied by contaminationand formation of mycotoxins, which are toxic secondary metabolites produced by specifictea-borne fungi.objectives: the purposes of this study were to isolate aspergillus flora in the air fromtea gardens and factories in gilan and mazandaran provinces, in northern iran, and todetermine their protein patterns.materials and methods: air samples were collected from 11 tea gardens and 13 tea factoriesbetween 2006 and 2008, and cultured in specific fungal media. mycelial matsand spores of the aspergillus species were disrupted in liquid nitrogen containing glassbeads. the crude extracts were separated from other cell components by centrifugationand sterilized using a filter. the extracts obtained were analysed using sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page) to separate the fungal antigenicproteins.results: a total of 4 157 fungal colonies were observed in the tea gardens air and 3 950colonies in the tea factories air. the most dominant and frequently occurring aspergillusflora were; a. niveus (14.4%) and a. unguis (12.6%) in the gardens, and a. melleus (14.3%) anda. niger (12.3%) in the factories. the highest number of aspergillus species collected fromthe tea gardens and factories were associated with the regions of lahijan (23.9%) andrasht (18.8%), respectively. the results from the sds-page method indicated that variousaspergillus species had 55 protein bands, which ranged from 5 to 120 kda. among thesespecies, a. foetidus had the maximum number of protein bands (22 bands) ranging from14.4 to 120 kda, while a. unguis contained the minimum protein bands (5 bands) rangingfrom 30 to 120 kda.conclusions: the results revealed the presence of a variety of aspergillus species in teagardens and factories air, and the presence of a large number of aspergillus species basedupon the protein banding patterns obtained with sds-page analysis.