ABSTRACT In 1960, the trajectory of aflatoxin as one of the earliest and best studied cases of a naturally occurring carcinogen in food intersected with the trajectory of an industrial microbe known in the Japanese vernacular as kōji, used for centuries in Japan to make sake, soy sauce, and miso. Over about two decades, the aflatoxin crisis spurred the emergence of a new evolutionary narrative of kōji, Aspergillus oryzae, as a domesticated, non-toxigenic species unique to the Japanese brewery that was clearly distinguishable from its wild, commonly found in nature, and aflatoxin-producing close relative, Aspergillus flavus. It was a shift that came hand-in-hand with the reconstruction of kōji classification. This essay examines the challenges of microbial classification after 1960. By asking how mycologists made a scientific narrative that originated in the interests of Japanese national industries convincing internationally, it explores the knowledge infrastructure that underlay both manufacturing issues and knowledge in microbiology.

中文翻译：

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野生毒性、人工栽培安全：黄曲霉毒素和麴分类为知识基础设施

摘要 1960 年，黄曲霉毒素作为食物中最早和研究最充分的一种天然致癌物质的轨迹与日本白话中称为 kōji 的工业微生物的轨迹相交，该微生物在日本使用了几个世纪来制造清酒、大豆酱汁和味噌。大约二十多年来，黄曲霉毒素危机引发了一种新的进化叙事的出现，即米曲霉，它是日本啤酒厂独有的驯化的无毒种，与自然界中常见的野生和黄曲霉毒素明显不同-生产近亲黄曲霉。这是与麴分类重建相伴而生的转变。本文探讨了 1960 年后微生物分类的挑战。