Discovery and occurrence of the fumonisins : A historical perspective.
MARASAS, WLF.O.
Environmental Health Perspectives 109: 239 – 243.
2001
บทคัดย่อ
This article describes the events leading to the discovery of the fumonisins in South Africa in 1988 and highlights the first 10 years (1988 – 1998) of fumonisin research. The predominant fungus isolated from mouldy corn implicated in a field outbreak of equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM) in South Africa in 1970 was Fusarium verticillioides (F. moniliforme). This fungus was also prevalent in mouldy home –grown corn consumed by people in high – incidence areas of oeso;hageal cancer in the Transkei region of South Africa. Culture material of F.verticillioides strain MRC 826, which was isolated from mouldy corn in Transkei, was shown to cause ELEM in horses, porcine pulmonary oedema syndrome in pigs and liver cancer in rats. A short – term cancer initiation/ promotion assay in rat liver was used to purify the carcinogen(s) in the culture material and FB1 and FB2 were finally isolated from culture material of F. verticillioides MRC 826.