Comments on "Screening and Identification of Novel Ochratoxin A-Producing Fungi from Grapes. Toxins 2016, 8, 333"-In Reporting Ochratoxin A Production from Strains of Aspergillus, Penicillium and Talaromyces.

Giancarlo Perrone,Jens C Frisvad,Antonio F Logrieco

doi:10.3390/toxins9020065

Abstract

Recently a species in the genus Talaromyces, a uniseriate species of Aspergillus section Nigri and an isolate each of two widespread species, Penicillium rubens and P. commune, were reported to produce ochratoxin A. This claim was based on insufficient biological and chemical data. We propose a list of criteria that need to be met before an unexpected mycotoxin producer is reported. There have only been convincing data on ochratoxin A production for Penicillium verrucosum, P. nordicum, P. thymicola, all from Penicillium series Verrucosa, and from species in three sections of Aspergillus: section Circumdati, section Nigri and section Flavi.

Highlights

Screened fungal strains isolated from grapes in China, claiming they identifies “Novel Ochratoxin A
Even though it is well known that ochratoxins are produced by several fungal species belonging to the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus, no papers directly indicate that any Talaromyces species can produce ochratoxin [2]
Several strains of all these species have been examined for production of ochratoxin A, but no isolate of the seven species of Talaromyces listed above was able to produce

Summary

Introduction

Screened fungal strains isolated from grapes in China, claiming they identifies “Novel Ochratoxin A (OTA)-Producing Fungi” within the genera Aspergillus, Talaromyces and Penicillium. They reported OTA production from species never found before to be OTA producers, namely Talaromyces rugulosus, Penicillium commune, Penicillium rubens and Aspergillus aculeatus.

Results

Conclusion