The plant pathogenic fungus Penicillium expansum is a major concern of the global food industry due to its wide occurrence and ability to produce various mycotoxins, of which the most significant is patulin. Relatively less highlighted in the literature, in comparison with the other food-borne mycotoxins, patulin is one of the main factors in economic losses of vegetables and fruits. Otherwise, patulin is a health hazard which results in both short-term and long-term risks. This review includes knowledge on the biosynthetic mechanisms used for secondary metabolite production in P. expansum, with special emphasis on patulin biosynthesis. The abiotic factors triggering the production of patulin and the strategies developed to reduce or prevent the contamination by this mycotoxin are comprehensively discussed. The database presented in this review would be useful for the prioritization and development of future research.
Patulin is the main mycotoxin contaminating apples. During the brewing of alcoholic beverages, this mycotoxin is degraded to ascladiol, which is also the last precursor of patulin. The present study aims (1) to characterize the last step of the patulin biosynthetic pathway and (2) to describe the toxicity of ascladiol. A patE deletion mutant was generated in Penicillium expansum. In contrast to the wild strain, this mutant does not produce patulin but accumulates high levels of E-ascladiol with few traces of Z-ascladiol. This confirms that patE encodes the patulin synthase involved in the conversion of E-ascladiol to patulin. After purification, cytotoxicities of patulin and E- and Z-ascladiol were investigated on human cell lines from liver, kidney, intestine, and immune system. Patulin was cytotoxic for these four cell lines in a dose-dependent manner. By contrast, both E- and Z-ascladiol were devoid of cytotoxicity. Microarray analyses on human intestinal cells treated with patulin and E-ascladiol showed that the latter, unlike patulin, did not alter the whole human transcription. These results demonstrate that E- and Z-ascladiol are not toxic and therefore patulin detoxification strategies leading to the accumulation of ascladiol are good approaches to limit the patulin risk.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.