When scientists turned off a specific gene called AnAzf1 in a mold called Aspergillus niger, it stopped making a toxin called ochratoxin A in lab tests.

In a type of mold called Aspergillus niger, turning off a specific gene (AnGal4) makes it produce a lot more of a toxin called ochratoxin A—especially when it's fed arabinose sugar.

When a specific gene called AnAzf1 is removed in a fungus named Aspergillus niger, it leads to less harmful molecules in the cells, boosts some protective enzymes, and changes how certain genes related to stress and iron control work.

In a certain mold used in industry, sugar sources like sucrose, glucose, and especially arabinose make it produce a toxin called ochratoxin A, but a protein-based nutrient called peptone stops the toxin from being made at all.

When this mold eats certain sugars like sucrose, glucose, or arabinose, it turns on genes that help make a toxin, and two of those genes become over three times more active than when it's eating something else.

When a specific gene called AnAzf1 is removed in a fungus named Aspergillus niger, its energy production system doesn't work as well — like a battery running low because some parts of the power plant aren't functioning.