Chemistry and Biology of Mycotoxins and Related Fungal Metabolites

Mycotoxins are a major threat to human life.846 While a number of diseases associated with the toxicological impact of mycotoxins have been eradicated, globally increasing population density, together with a stricter usage of fungicides, has caused increasing awareness of the different classes of mycotoxins. Refinements of chromatographical techniques and methods of chemical and biological characterization have led to the discovery of new toxins excreted from lower and higher fungi. The structure-activity relationship has been established for some classes of mycotoxins; however, most mycotoxins remain unexplored. The comprehensive understanding of biochemical pathways-both production and metabolism of fungal metabolites-should be a goal in mycology. It is expected that microarray techniques will be extremely helpful in this regard; the first ""mycochips" are already on the market. However, simple and reliable methods for the detection of mycotoxins are still needed.© 2009 American Chemical Society.