Alternative patulin pathway unproven

Letter to the Editor[Excerpt] We read with interest in your journal that Penicillium expansum strains S3, S31 and S87 ( Rharmitt et al., 2016) were considered negative for possession of the isoepoxydon dehydrogenase (idh) gene for patulin (PAT) production and positive for PAT production. This led to speculation that an alternative pathway was involved in patulin production. However, the authors did not provide the diode array (DA) UV spectra of the HPLC peaks assigned to PAT, which assist in confirming its identification. UV spectra could usefully be provided in papers when DA analysis has been performed especially for unusual results such as these: At least a statement to say whether the spectra were identical, or not, to the PAT standard is required. [...]FCT -Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(UID/BIO/04469/2013)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Penicillium tunisiense sp. nov., a novel species of Penicillium section Ramosa discovered from Tunisian orchard apples

Two similar Penicillium isolates could not be identified as previously described species in a survey of orchard apples from Tunisia for patulin-producing fungi. These isolates are described as novel species using multilocus DNA sequence analysis of partial -tubulin, calmodulin and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer regions; and morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics. The isolates were considered negative for patulin production since the IDH gene fragment was not detected and the compound detected at the same retention time of patulin (14.9min) showed a different UV spectrum using U-HPLC/UV-DAD. In terms of phylogeny, the two isolates clustered with Penicillium section Ramosa and are closely related to Penicillium chroogomphum, Penicillium lenticrescens and Penicillium soppii. Furthermore, their macro- and micromorphological traits differed from these species. Hence, the isolates represent a novel species in Penicillium section Ramosa and the name Penicillium tunisiense sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain MUM 17.62T (=ITEM 17445T).This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 – Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A new species of Penicillium section Ramosa from Tunisian Apples

One of the limiting factors that influence the fruits economic chain value is the relatively short shelf-life period caused by fungal infections. The symptoms of fungal infection may be observed at different times but many fungi may remain dormant for varying periods until post-harvest favorable conditions become available for their development. In a mycotoxin contamination survey of apples from markets in Tunisia, 54 Penicillium strains were isolated. However, two isolates could not be assigned to any described species based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses. The aim of this study was the characterisation and description of this new putative species. For morphological analyses, MUM 17.62 and MUM 17.80 were inoculated in triplicate in CYA, YES, G25N, CSN and MEA media and incubated in the dark at 25 ºC for 7 days. CYA plates were also incubated at 30ºC and 37ºC. Colony size was measured and for microscopy analysis fungi grown in MEA was used. Multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) was performed through comparison of partial β-tubulin (benA), calmodulin (cmd) and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region with sequences available in GenBank derived from type strains of Penicillium species. All the sequences were aligned and phylogenetic trees were assembled using MEGA. For MUM 17.62 and MUM 17.80 morphologically, the colonies growth was very restricted in the different media. No growth was observed on CYA at 30 ºC and 37 ºC. The strains show slight differences in green colour. Both present velutionous, sulcate and irregular colonies in MEA. Microscopically, the conidiophores are biverticillate and conidia ellipsoidal. MLSA revealed that the two strains belong to Penicillium section Ramosa. Fingerprinting using the M13 microsatellite showed that the two strains are not clones and analysis of the isoepoxydon dehydrogenase (idh) gene revealed that they lack the ability to produce patulin. In summary, in terms of multigene phylogeny the two strains are closely related to P. lenticrescens, P. chroogomphum and P. soppii of the section Ramosa however they well-circumscribe a sp. nov. coined as Penicillium tunisinus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The mycotoxin patulin : an updated short review on occurrence, toxicity and analytical challenges

Patulin (PAT) is a common mycotoxin in fruit products, especially in apples and apple-based products. The European Commission has set maximum levels for PAT in food. Nevertheless, worrying PAT levels were recently recorded in diverse foods across the world. Therefore, a worldwide follow-up of PAT-levels in foods should be considered. Because of PAT's high probability in food products, the toxicological implications for humans need to be addressed as well. Recent studies proved adverse health effects of PAT, such as hepatotoxicity, gastrointestinal alterations and inmunotoxicity. In comparison to the toxicity of other mycotoxins such as ochratoxin A, PAT's immunotoxicity can be even more outspoken destructive. In addition, PAT is a low-molecular-weight and highly polar molecule, resulting in many analytical challenges for its detection. As the analytical techniques are continuously improving, PAT determination in multi-mycotoxin analysis has advanced using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) during the last year. Finally, the presence and toxicity of PAT requires a biomarker method to assess its exposure among the population. To date, however, there is no information regarding PAT biomarkers in biological samples. This short review highlights the PAT-occurrence profile, toxicological discoveries and analytical challenges of 2014 until to date

Penicillia diversity from food identified polyphasically, including mycotoxin production

Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT). It was under the scope of the strategic funding of the UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01–0145-FEDER-006684) and the BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-000004), funded by the European Regional Development Fund through Norte2020—Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (Portugal

Penicillium species identification and new insights on mycotoxins in food commodities (apples, chilli and cheese)

The 10th International Palestinian Conference of Laboratory Medicine and The 15th Arab Conference of Clinical BiologyAmong certain groups of filamentous fungi that produce mycotoxins, relevant contaminates in food, the genus Penicillium is of great importance. Penicillium is ubiquitous in nature and inevitable, although it can be controlled from the field to the fork. Mycotoxins are fungal secondary metabolites that cause sickness or death in people when ingested, inhaled, and/or absorbed. Major mycotoxins associated with common penicillia are: Ochratoxin A (P. verrucosum and P. nordicum), patulin (P. expansum), citrinin (P. expansum), cyclopazonic acid (P. camemberti), penicillic acid (P. radicicola) and secalonic acid D, F (P. griseofulvum). Penicillia identification is time-consuming and sounder polyphasic identification, which includes phenotypic and genotypic approaches, is recommended. However, in many laboratories, the standard character for identification is still morphology. Taking this into account, results from Penicillium species isolated from Tunisian apples, Chilean traditional chilli (Merkén), Italian cheeses and their mycotoxin profiles (patulin and ochratoxin A) will be presented in this work. For morphological analyses, isolates were inoculated in triplicate in different media. Fungi grown in MEA for colony and microscopy analyses were used. Multilocus sequence analysis was performed through comparison of partial -tubulin, calmodulin and ITS with sequences available in GenBank. Specific primers for genes involved in the mycotoxins pathways were used for PCR amplification. After extraction the mycotoxins were quantified using HPLC-FLD (fluorescence detection). From Tunisian apples isolates, a novel species Penicillium tunisiense of section Ramosa is proposed. This is not a patulin producer with the idh gene negative in contrast with the other dominant P. expansum isolates. In addition, ochratoxigenic strains P. verrucosum and P. crustosum were isolated from chilli and cheese samples, respectively, and characterised with genes involved this mycotoxin production. Our findings show that mycotoxigenic Penicillium strains, as food contaminants, remain an important field of study and more knowledge needs to be learned.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio