Alternaria

RODRÍGUEZ JIMÉNEZ, A.; PATRIARCA, A.; RODRÍGUEZ, M.; ANDRADE, M.J.; CÓRDOBA, J.J.

Laboratory Models for Foodborne Infections

CRC Press

Año: 2017; p. 441 - 454

The genus Alternaria includes 275 species (Simons, 2007). Currently 24 Alternaria sections, of which 16 are newly described, and six monotypic lineages are recognized (Woudenberg et al., 2013). Alternaria is a ubiquitous fungal genus that includes saprobic, endophytic and pathogenic species associated with a wide variety of substrates. Species of Alternaria are serious plant pathogens that damage crops in the field and cause postharvest decays. Alternaria spp. are able to grow at low temperatures and low water activity (aw) (Hasan, 1995; Magan et al., 1984), thus being able to contaminate fruit and vegetables during storage even when kept refrigerated (Barkai-Golan, 2001; Müller, 1991).Although over 120 secondary metabolites of Alternaria are known, only about 30 are considered toxic to humans and animals, many of them acting as phytotoxins (Panigrahi et al., 1997). Only a small proportion of such phytotoxins have been chemically characterised and reported to act as mycotoxins to humans and animals. The most important Alternaria mycotoxins are alternariol (AOH), altenariol monomethyl ether (AME), altenuene (ALT), tenuazonic acid (TeA), tentoxin (TEN), and altertoxins I, II, and III (Ostry, 2008), which belong to three structural classes (Bottalico and Logrieco, 1998): a) dibenzopyrone derivatives (AOH, AME, ALT); b) perylene derivatives (ATX-I, -II, -III) and c) tetramic acid derivatives (TeA).