Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.
The
fum
gene cluster in
Fusarium moniliformis
(Procter-2003).
(Color image of this fi gure appears in the color plate section at the end of the topic.)
Figure 6.
Fumonisin biosynthetic pathway in
Fusarium moniliformae
(Procter-2003).
(Color image of this fi gure appears in the color plate section at the end of the topic.)
the different types of reported fumonisins (B1, B2, B3 and B4). Presently
only
fum1
has been linked to the formation of the polyketide backbone
and
fum9
to hydroxylation of the C5 position, meaning the majority of
the suggested steps remain to be experimentally proven (Butchko et al.
2003).
Patulin
Patulin is mainly produced by a number of species of
Penicillium,
Aspergillus
and
Byssochlamys
but, in the human context, the most
important producer is undoubtedly
Penicillium expansum,
the blue mould
causing a soft rot of apples and other fruits. It may thus occur in fresh,
unfermented apple juice and has indeed been found in commercial
samples (Anon 1993).
The useful thing about patulin is that the pathway is so specifi c without
other mycotoxins being involved. Patulin is conceived of as being formed
from isoepoxydon, phyllosphyllostine, isopatulin, ascladiol, patulin where
