Influence of environmental parameters on mycotoxin production by Alternaria arborescens

VAQUERA, SANDRA; PATRIARCA, ANDREA; FERNÁNDEZ PINTO, VIRGINIA

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 219 p. 44 - 49

0168-1605

Alternaria arborescens has been reported as a common fungalspecies invading tomatoes and is capable of producing several mycotoxins ininfected plants, fruits and in agricultural commodities. Alternariol (AOH), alternariolmonomethyl ether (AME), and tenuazonic acid (TeA) are some of the main Alternariamycotoxins that can be found as contaminants of food. This species can producethese toxic metabolites together with AAL toxins (Alternaria alternata f. sp. lycopersicumtoxins), which can act as inhibitors of sphingolipid biosynthesis. Theobjective of this study was to determine the effect of water activity (aw,0.995, 0.975, 0.950) and temperatura (6, 15, 20, 25 and 30 °C) on mycotoxinproduction by A. arborescens on a synthetic tomato medium. The optimum productionof AOH and AME occurred at 0.975 aw after 40 days of incubation at 30 °C. The maximumTeA accumulation was observed at 0.975 aw and 25 °C and at 0.950 aw and 30 °C.AAL TA was produced in higher quantities at 0.995 aw and 30 °C. At 6 °C noquantifiable levels of AOH or AME were detected, but significant amounts of TeAwere produced at 0.975 aw. In general, high aw levels and high temperatureswere favorable for mycotoxin production. The greatest accumulation of all fourtoxins occurred at 0.975 aw and 30 °C. The results obtained here could beextrapolated to evaluate the risk of tomato fruits and tomato productscontamination caused by these toxins.