Some major mycotoxins and their mycotoxicoses—An overview John L. Richard ⁎ Romer Labs, Inc., 34423 N. Wilderness Trail, Cave Creek, AZ 85331, United States Abstract Mycotoxins likely have existed for as long as crops have been grown but recognition of the true chemical nature of such entities of fungal metabolism was not known until recent times. Conjecturally, there is historical evidence of their presence back as far as the time reported in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Evidence of their periodic, historical occurrence exists until the recognition of aflatoxins in the early 1960s. At that time mycotoxins were considered as a storage phenomenon whereby grains becoming moldy during storage allowed for the production of these secondary metabolites proven to be toxic when consumed by man and other animals. Subsequently, aflatoxins and mycotoxins of several kinds were found to be formed during development of crop plants in the field. The determination of which of the many known mycotoxins are significant can be based upon their frequency of occurrence and/or the severity of the disease that they produce, especially if they are known to be carcinogenic. Among the mycotoxins fitting into this major group would be the aflatoxins, deoxynivalenol, fumonisins, zearalenone, T-2 toxin, ochratoxin and certain ergot alkaloids. The diseases (mycotoxicoses) caused by these mycotoxins are quite varied and involve a wide range of susceptible animal species including humans. Most of these diseases occur after consumption of mycotoxin contaminated grain or products made from such grains but other routes of exposure exist. The diagnosis of mycotoxicoses may prove to be difficult because of the similarity of signs of disease to those caused by other agents. Therefore, diagnosis of a mycotoxicoses is dependent upon adequate testing for mycotoxins involving sampling, sample preparation and analysis. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Mycotoxins; Mycotoxicoses; Aflatoxin(s); Deoxynivalenol; Fumonisins; T-2 toxins; Trichothecenes; Zearalenone; Ergot; Ochratoxin 1. Historical aspects The toxic secondary metabolites of fungi that we call mycotoxins, have been conjecturally associated with disease, by modern day investigators, and go back to times included in the writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls (noting destruction of “houses of mildew”). They also have been included as the cause of the last of the Ten Plagues of Egypt whereby it was suggested that the oldest son, his family and animals succumbed following the opening of the grain storage facilities whose contents were contaminated by toxic fungi (Marr and Malloy, 1996). While ergot alkaloids were used as Chinese medicinal preparations over 500 years ago, the accounts of the Middle Ages included descriptions of “St. Anthony's Fire” which was attributed to the human consumption of foods prepared from ergot-contaminated grain. Ergot alkaloids, with both gangrenous and convulsive effects, likely were involved in the “bewitch- ments” (possession of some evil spirits) leading to the Salem Witchcraft Trials in Salem, Massachusetts. During the late 1800s and early 1900s there was considerable recognition of the ability of fungi to carry out fermentations and a number of investigators recognized the myriad of “secondary metabolites” produced by fungi in both solid state and liquid fermentations. Because a few of the products of such fermentations were consumed by humans, some interest in the toxicity of these products was developed. DeBary in 1879 noted that when two organisms were grown side by side, one inhibited the growth of the other (Skinner et al., 1947). Other workers followed up with these investigations and Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin was a monument to the entire field of antibiosis. Once this discovery was determined to be important, due to the curative effect delivered by this antibiotic for some devastating diseases, the antibiotic industry rapidly developed. Some investigators included studies of animal toxicity during development of antibiotics. Noting that some of these fungal metabolites indeed were toxic to animals was the first clue to many in the scientific community that fungi could produce toxins that could cause disease in humans and other animals. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com International Journal of Food Microbiology 119 (2007) 3 – 10 www.elsevier.com/locate/ijfoodmicro ⁎ Tel.: +1 480 220 8461; fax: +1 480 488 7149. E-mail address: john.richard@romerlabs.com. 0168-1605/$ - see front matter © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2007.07.019