Miss Qaqamba Mapatwana

MSc Student

Research Interests

I obtained my B.Sc. in microbiology and B.Sc. Hons. in food microbiology at the University of the Free State. Thereafter, I joined the University of Pretoria where I am currently a second year M.Sc. student at the Centre for Applied Mycological Studies (CAMS). In my research, I am conducting a population study on the occurrence of Fusarium verticillioides and fumonisins in the maize milling process. With maize being the staple food of South Africans, the primary objective of this project is to determine the role of the milling process on the population of F. verticillioides and the level of fumonisins they produce. There is reason to believe that F. verticillioides is more aggressively invading maize in Southern Africa that could be attributed to a number of factors such as changes in agricultural practices, cultivar usage, environmental conditions, or even changes in the capability of the fungus. It is thus also the purpose of the project to investigate these changes on the basis of genetic diversity among isolates from different areas in South Africa and time periods over the last two decades.