Development and evaluation of an up-converting phosphor technology-based lateral flow assay for rapid and quantitative detection of aflatoxin B1 in crops.

Contamination of grains and other crops by aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a highly toxic aflatoxin produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, poses a serious threat to human health and is an important food safety issue. In this study, a competitive up-converting phosphor technology-based lateral flow (AFB1-UPT-LF) assay was developed for rapid detection of AFB1. Detection sensitivity of the proposed assay can reach 0.03ngmL-1 for standard AFB1 solutions, with the coefficients of variation (CV) less than 10% (from 1.0 to 9.4%). A good linearity (r=0.9889) was observed for quantification of AFB1 from 0.03 to 1000ngmL-1. Except for aflatoxin M1, no cross-reactivity was found with the abrin, ricin, ochratoxin A, botulinum toxin, shiga toxin 1, shiga toxin 2, and staphylococcal enterotoxin B, even at high concentrations of 100 or 1000ngmL-1. After optimizing the extraction of AFB1, the assay showed good tolerance to various crop samples, with the detection limit (from 0.1 to 5ngg-1) lower than the corresponding maximum residue level (MRL) set in China. The AFB1-UPT-LF assay provides a promising tool for rapid on-site detection of AFB1 because of its high sensitivity, specificity, and sample tolerance.