<i>Aspergillus</i> Species Discrimination Using a Gas Sensor Array
Rosamaria Capuano,
Emilia Paba,
Antonella Mansi,
Anna Maria Marcelloni,
Alessandra Chiominto,
Anna Rita Proietto,
Emiliano Zampetti,
Antonella Macagnano,
Larisa Lvova,
Alexandro Catini,
Roberto Paolesse,
Giovanna Tranfo,
Corrado Di Natale
Affiliations
Rosamaria Capuano
Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Emilia Paba
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) Via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
Antonella Mansi
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) Via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
Anna Maria Marcelloni
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) Via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
Alessandra Chiominto
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) Via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
Anna Rita Proietto
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) Via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
Emiliano Zampetti
Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research-National Research Council, Via Salaria km. 29300, 00016 Monterotondo, Rome, Italy
Antonella Macagnano
Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research-National Research Council, Via Salaria km. 29300, 00016 Monterotondo, Rome, Italy
Larisa Lvova
Department of Chemical Science and Technology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome, Italy
Alexandro Catini
Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
Roberto Paolesse
Department of Chemical Science and Technology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Rome, Italy
Giovanna Tranfo
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Epidemiology and Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) Via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy
Corrado Di Natale
Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy
The efficiency of electronic noses in detecting and identifying microorganisms has been proven by several studies. Since volatile compounds change with the growth of colonies, the identification of strains is highly dependent on the growing conditions. In this paper, the effects of growth were investigated with different species of Aspergillus, which is one of the most studied microorganisms because of its implications in environmental and food safety. For this purpose, we used an electronic nose previously utilized for volatilome detection applications and based on eight porphyrins-functionalized quartz microbalances. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by cultured fungi were measured at 3, 5, and 10 days after the incubation. The signals from the sensors showed that the pattern of VOCs evolve with time. In particular, the separation between the three studied strains progressively decreases with time. The three strains could still be identified despite the influence of culture time. Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) showed an overall accuracy of 88% and 71% in the training and test sets, respectively. These results indicate that the presence of microorganisms is detectable with respect to background, however, the difference between the strains changes with the incubation time.
