Usuari:AleixBM/Patulina

La patulina és una micotoxina produïda per diferents espècies de fongs. Aquesta fou aïllada a principis dels anys 1940 per primer cop de Penicillium patulum (malgrat que a dia d'avui s'anomeni Penicillium griseofulvum) on es observar la seva funcionalitat com a substància antimicrobiana, antivírica i/o antifúngica.

The same metabolite was also isolated from other species and given the names clavacin, claviformin, expansin, mycoin c, and penicidin (45). The chemical structure is shown in Fig. 6. A number of early studies were directed towards harnessing its antibiotic activity. For example, it was tested as both a nose and throat spray for treating the common cold and as an ointment for treating fungal skin infections (44, 45). However, during the 1950s and 1960s, it became apparent that, in addition to its antibacterial, antiviral, and antiprotozoal activity, patulin was toxic to both plants and animals, precluding its clinical use as an antibiotic. During the 1960s, patulin was reclassified as a mycotoxin.

Nowadays, Penicillium expansum, the blue mold that causes soft rot of apples, pears, cherries, and other fruits, is recognized as one of the most common offenders in patulin contamination. Patulin is regularly found in unfermented apple juice, although it does not survive the fermentation into cider products (260). Patulin is toxic at high concentration in laboratory settings, but evidence for natural poisoning is indirect and inconclusive. Nevertheless, the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization-World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives has established a provisional maximum tolerable daily intake for patulin of 0.4 mg/kg of body weight per day (260).

Patulin has also played an important role in the study of the classical biochemistry of polyketide biosynthesis. The first cell extract for a fungal polyketide synthase involved studies on a 6-methylsalicylic acid synthase from the species then called Penicillium urticae (now Penicillium griseofulvum); see Bentley and Bennett (13) for a review.