A critical review of producers of small lactone mycotoxins: patulin, penicillic acid and moniliformin

Abstract

A very large number of filamentous fungi has been reported to produce the small lactone mycotoxins patulin, penicillic acid and moniliformin. Among the 167 reported fungal producers of patulin, only production by 29 species could be confirmed. Patulin is produced by 3 Aspergillus species, 3 Paecilomyces species, 22 Penicillium species from 7 sections of Penicillium, and one Xylaria species. Among 101 reported producers of penicillic acid, 48 species could produce this mycotoxin. Penicillic acid is produced by 23 species in section Aspergillus subgenus Circumdati section Circumdati, by Malbranchea aurantiaca and by 24 Penicillium species from 9 sections in Penicillium and one species that does not actually belong to Penicillium (P. megasporum). Among 40 reported producers of moniliformin, five species have been regarded as doubtful producers of this mycotoxin or are now regarded as taxonomic synonyms. Moniliformin is produced by 34 Fusarium species and one Penicillium species. All the accepted producers of patulin, penicillic acid and moniliformin were revised according to the new one fungus – one name nomenclatural system, and the most recently accepted taxonomy of the species.

Antiprotozoal, antiviral and cytotoxic properties of the nigerian mushroom, hypoxylon fuscum pers. fr. (xylariaceae)

“…Meanwhile, the HPLC analysis of this extract revealed that it contained dihydropenicillic acid as its major constituent, as seen in Figure 1 and 2. Several fungi have been reported to produce dihydropenicillinic acid, and its unsaturated analogue, penicillic acid, and these include Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus terreus, Penicillium cyclopium and Penicillium griseofulvum 44 . A previoius study revealed that dihydropenicillinic acid displayed moderate cytotoxicity against several human cancers including human non-small cell lung cancer, human breast cancer, human CNS cancer and human pancreatic cancer at 10 µg/mL 45 .…”

Toxicological and Medical Aspects of Aspergillus-Derived Mycotoxins Entering the Feed and Food Chain

“…Patulin (PAT) is produced by many different molds, predominantly by Penicillium spp. (Puel et al, 2010;Frisvad, 2018;Vidal et al, 2019) but, occasionally, by some Byssochlamys (Sant'Ana et al, 2010;Frisvad, 2018) and Aspergillus spp., including A. giganteus, A. longivesica, and A. clavatus (Varga et al, 2007;Pal et al, 2017;Frisvad, 2018) as well. Chemically, PAT is a water-soluble, colorless, polyketide lactone (Figure 3), which is thought to exert its toxicity through reacting with thiol groups (cysteine, glutathione, thiol moieties of proteins) in the cytoplasm (Pal et al, 2017).…”

“…Furthermore, A. clavatus may also colonize malted barley and wheat, which might also contribute to the appearance of PAT in the feed and food chain (Lopez-Diaz and Flannigan, 1997;Loretti et al, 2003;Sabater-Vilar et al, 2004). Different food products, like vegetables, rotting apples, grains, and fruits may contain primarily Penicillium-derived PAT (Puel et al, 2010;Wright, 2015;Frisvad, 2018;Vidal et al, 2019). As this is a quite stable secondary metabolite, it can withstand various harsh processing steps, such as milling and heating.…”

Patulin in Apples and Apple-Based Food Products: The Burdens and the Mitigation Strategies

“…Patulin production is often detected within the decayed area, which is majorly caused, by P. expansum and other pathogenic Penicillium . In a recent study, among the 166 fungal isolates that have been reported to produce patulin, 77 belong to pathogenic Penicillium [ 37 ]. As a psychrophilic fungus, P. expansum grows well at 0 °C or even −2/−3 °C, so infection can still take place during the cold storage of apples [ 43 ].…”

“…Moreover, the conventional control of blue mold decay by fungicides also concerns the public by itself, because of the potential risks of such chemicals to human health. In the view of blue mold and patulin, studies from the past decade have reviewed patulin-producing strains and their biosynthesis genes [ 36 , 37 ]. Considering that patulin is often detected in apples products, factors that affect patulin production in apple fruits, conventional practices for postharvest control, and the fate of patulin during juice processing have been discussed [ 32 , 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”