Rapid detection and quantification of zearalenone-producing Fusarium species by targeting the zearalenone synthase gene PKS4

This work is the first report on developing a method to detect and quantify the zearalenone-producing Fusarium species in foodstuff by real-time PCR assay with SYBR Green I. Based on the polyketide synthase gene (PKS4) sequences of four zearalenone-producing Fusarium strains, a specific primer set was designed and used to detect and quantify zearalenone-producing Fusarium in foodstuff. The system developed under study required only 100 mg infected maize flour for test, had ability to detect down to 10 copies of the target gene per reaction, and produced reliable quantitative data over three orders of magnitude. Compared with the conventional methods, it is more rapid, specific and sensitive to detect potential zearalenone contamination in food or feed production.