Temperature-Dependent Toxin Production by Stachybotrys Species

Abstract

Stachybotrys atra (also known as S. chartarum) is a saprophytic member of a group of fungi found in cellulose-rich materials and capable of producing mycotoxins (Harrach et al., 1983). This mold can synthesize highly toxic macrocyclic trichothecene toxins (MTTs) causing the syndrome known as stachybotryotoxicosis (Danko, 1976; Harrach et al., 1983). Symptoms of this disease are shock, stomatitis, dermal necrosis, hemorrhages, thrombocytophia, leukopenia, nervous disorders, and death from respiratory failure (Gbodi and Nwude, 1988). The etiology of this disease has been reviewed as early as 1972 by Forgas. Such diseases have been described in various parts of the world including Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Hungary, Romania, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia (Yuskiv, 1968; Danko, 1972; Le Bars et al., 1977; Hintilka, 1977; Gbodi and Nwude, 1988). In the United States, stachybotryotoxicosis was reported in the occupants of a house in suburban Chicago (Croft et al., 1986; Jarvis et al., 1986). Five MTTs were identified from the obtained culture of S. atra, two of which were verrucarin J and roridin E isolated earlier from Myrothecium spp. The other three toxins were satratoxins F, G, and H. Figure 1 depicts the structures of some macrocyclic MTTs whose chemistry has been reviewed by Jarvis and Mazzola (1982). Whereas the structures of satratoxin G and H have been provided by Eppley et al. (1977) and Harrach et al. (1983), the structure of roridin E was elucidated by Breitenstein and Tamm (1978). Kupchan (1974) contributed the structure of verrucarin J.