VIEW ARTICLE

Postharvest Pathology and Mycotoxins

Production of Penitrem A and of an Unidentified Toxin by Penicillium lanoso-coeruleum Isolated from Weevil-Damaged Pecans. John M. Wells, Southeastern Fruit and Tree Nut Research Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Byron, GA 31008; Richard J. Cole, National Peanut Research Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dawson, GA 31742. Phytopathology 67:779-782. Accepted for publication 10 December 1976. Copyright © 1977 The American Phytopathological Society, 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121. All rights reserved.. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-67-779.

Chloroform extracts of Penicillium lanoso-coeruleum isolated from weevil-damaged pecans and grown on shredded wheat-yeast extract-sucrose medium were toxic to 1-day-old cockerels, producing sustained tremors and convulsions prior to mortality. Two toxic fractions were separated from chloroform extracts by sequential elution from silica gel columns with diethyl ether and acetone. Physical and chemical characteristics of purified crystals from the ether fraction correlated with those of the mycotoxin Penitrem A: an R_f value in toluene:ethyl acetate:formic acid (5:4:1, v/v) (TEF) of 0.5; ultra-violet absorption maxima (UV _max) in methanol at 234, 283, 294, and 300 nm; and infrared (IR) absorptions also identical to those of authentic Penitrem A. Methanolysis resulted in a color reaction specific for Penitrem A. Crystals from the acetone fraction had R_f values in TEF of 0.1 or less, UV maxima at 317 and 245 nm, and IR maxima of 1,675 and 1,400 cm^–1. The chemical identity of the toxin in the acetone fraction is unknown.