Fungi trichothecene production

Some natural products, or their degradation products, represent a hazard for mammals not because of general toxicity but for subtle, adverse properties, such as carcinogenicity and tumor promotion. They are best known fi om marine dinoflagellates (okadaic acid and structural analogues), filamentous fungi (trichothecenes and ochratoxins), and plants (pyrrolizidine alkaloids). 

In the first part of this chapter, we deal with insecticides including miticides and nematocides, which include very useful compounds such as avermectins and milbemycins, produced by bacteria and fungi. We list out microbial insecticides of importance and review the works mainly on the mode of action and biosynthesis of each metabolite. In the next part, major mycotoxins are listed and recent topics on them, especially on their biosynthesis, are described. Since contamination of two major mycotoxin groups, aflatoxins (AFs) and trichothecenes, in food and feed is a worldwide problem, they are treated in detail in the last part of this chapter. Recent studies on their biosynthesis, regulatory mechanism for their production, and inhibitors of their production are described. 

Fungi that produce trichothecenes are plant pathogens and invade various agricultural products and plants. Since Fusarium and other related fungi infect important foodstuff, they have been associated worldwide with intoxication of humans and animals. Thus, these fungi have potential as biological weapons. 

Trichothecenes are a group of mycotoxins produced as secondary metabolic products by various fungi of several genuses such as Fusarium, Trichoderma, Myrothecium, Trichothecium, Cephalosporium and Stachybotrys. 

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