Toxins of molds from decaying tomato fruit

Abstract

Among 27 mold isolates from decaying tomatoes, culture filtrates or ethyl acetate extracts of 8 isolates grown in yeast extract-sucrose medium were markedly toxic (mortality, greater than 50%) to brine shrimp larvae. The toxicity of six of these isolates could be attributed to the presence of citrinin, tenuazonic acid, or T-2 toxin. Ethyl acetate extracts of five Alternaria isolates and one Fusarium isolate were mutagenic for Salmonella typhimurium strains. In ripe tomatoes inoculated with toxin-producing isolates and incubated at 25 degrees C, one Alternaria alternata isolate produced tenuazonic acid in seven of seven tomatoes at levels of up to 106 micrograms/g and alternariol methyl ether in one of the seven tomatoes at 0.8 microgram/g. Another A. alternata isolate produced tenuazonic acid or alternariol methyl ether at much lower levels in only three of seven tomatoes. Patulin and citrinin were produced by a Penicillium expansum isolate at levels of up to 8.4 and 0.76 microgram/g, respectively. In tomatoes incubated at 15 degrees C, a Fusarium sulphureum isolate produced T-2 toxin, HT-2 toxin, and neosolaniol at levels of up to 37.5, 37.8 and 5.6 micrograms/g, respectively. If these mycotoxins are thermostable, they may occur at detectable levels in tomato products whenever partially moldy tomatoes are used as raw material.