Specificity of immunofluorescent staining for study of Aspergillus flavus in soil.

Fluorescein-labeled antiserum prepared with Aspergillus flavus strain CS was tested for specificity by staining fungi grown in soil in the vicinity of buried slides. All 14 strains of A. flavus fluoresced as intensely or nearly as intensely as the antigen control. Among 21 isolates of species of Aspergillus other than A. flavus, 17 reacted with moderate to low fluorescence at intensities readily distinguishable from that of A. flavus. The fluorescence of the remaining four cultures, and particularly A. sydowi, was indistinguishable from that of A. flavus. Fungi other than aspergilli were generally nonreactive. Interfering cross-reactions were encountered for one strain of Spicaria and one strain of Stemphylium; three isolates could not be evaluated because of interfering autofluorescence. An additional 22 isolates were either wholly negative or had a low order of fluorescence. Agglutination tests between each of the fungi and A. flavus CS serum revealed close agreement between agglutination titer and fluorescent-staining reaction. Unknown fungi freshly isolated from soil were checked for reaction to the A. flavus labeled antiserum; only one isolate gave a pronounced staining reaction, and that one proved to be a strain of A. flavus. In a simplified ecological model, the fluorescent-antibody technique was used to follow the development of A. flavus in mixed culture in soil with five other soil fungi.