Mycotoxic fungi

Abstract

The fungi are a diverse group of organisms which have in common a eukaryotic structure, a heterotrophic metabolism and an outer wall. Thus, unlike plants, fungi require organic carbon compounds, although the presence of a wall means that, unlike animals, they have to feed by absorption of soluble nutrients rather than by ingestion of particulate food and subsequent digestion. Many fungi can metabolize complex insoluble materials, such as lingo-cellulose, but these materials have to be degraded by the secretion of appropriate enzymes outside the wall. A number of fungi are parasitic on animals, plants and other fungi, and some of these parasitic associations have become very complex and may even be obligate. The fungi are justifiably considered to be a Kingdom of living organisms and, within this Kingdom, the food mycologist is primarily concerned with those fungi conveniently referred to as yeasts and as moulds, mushrooms and toadstools (known collectively as the filamentous fungi) respectively. Of these, we shall be principally concerned with the moulds as producers of toxins in foods which have been associated with a range of human diseases, from gastro-enteritis to cancer.