Abstract
The fungus Fusarium moniliforme occurs in both the humid temperate and tropical zones of the world where it is a major parasite of several economically important gramineous plants, especially corn (Zeae mays) (Marasas et al., 1984; Ayers et al., 1989; Leonian, 1932; Kommedahl and Windeis, 1981). The fungus consists of a myriad complex of plant pathogenic types, some always virulent, others virulent but only under severe environmental stress, while still others are nonvirulent. It is primarily this latter category which enters the food chain where some isolates are capable of producing one of several known mycotoxins: moniliformin, the fumonisins, and the fusarins. This field fungus, which under favorable circumstances can continue its production of toxins in storage, has been shown to be hepatotoxic (Kriek et al., 1981; Voss et al., 1989) and it is implicated in the etiologies of human esophageal cancer, abnormal bone development of poultry, and equine leukoencephalomalacia (Marasas et al., 1984). Some of its mycotoxins have been identified as producing one or more of these animal disorders (Marasas et al., 1988; Gelderblom et al., 1988). Pure cultures of the fungus are acutely toxic to mice, pigs, sheep, ducklings, and baboons (Kriek et al., 1981; Marasas et al., 1984; Thiel et al., 1986; Jeschke and Nelson 1987).
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Bacon, C.W., Norred, W.P., Marijanovic, D.R., Hinton, D.M., Voss, K.A. (1990). The Natural Occurrence, Mutagenic and other Toxicological Implications of Fusarin C from Fusarium moniliforme . In: Llewellyn, G.C., O’Rear, C.E. (eds) Biodeterioration Research. Biodeterioration Research, vol 3. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9453-3_7
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