Caracterização Molecular da Micobiota da Pimenta-Preta (Piper Nigrum) Comercializada no Brasil

Abstract

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is the most economically important spice and the most widely used worldwide. Brazil is the world's second largest producer of black pepper and the largest producer in the Western Hemisphere. Brazilian black pepper faces a worrying contamination by toxigenic and spoilage fungi, representing risks to public health and losses to the production sector. A detailed investigation of its mycobiota, using advanced molecular methodologies, is essential to identify risks and potential beneficial microorganisms, filling the gap left by previous studies. This study aims to quantify the level of fungal contamination in black pepper samples and investigate their microbiological diversity through multilocus phylogenetic analyses. Forty-seven pepper samples were collected from markets located in the states of São Paulo, Espírito Santo and Pará, from which 749 fungal strains were isolated. In the ground pepper samples, an average fungal contamination of 1.0 × 10⁵ CFU/g was observed. In the pepper grain samples, 27% presented fungal infection. This study revealed a wide diversity of fungi associated with black pepper. A total of 222 fungal strains were sequenced, with a predominance of the genera Aspergillus and Fusarium, resulting in the identification of 51 species. Among them, toxigenic species such as Aspergillus flavus, A. pseudocaelatus, A. parasiticus and A. agricola (producers of aflatoxins), in addition to A. niger, A. welwitschiae and A. carbonarius (producers of ochratoxin A) stand out. The presence of A. fumigatus, a priority pathogen according to the WHO, reinforces the need for rigorous monitoring. Several species were reported for the first time in this substrate, highlighting the importance of investigating diversity. Notably, two novel fungal species were isolated and proposed as Penicillium pipericola sp. nov. and Syncephalastrum brasiliensis sp. nov.