Patulin: Mycotoxin or Fungal Metabolite? (Current State of Knowledge)

Following the discovery of penicillin by Fleming in 1929 a flurry of work ensued in which similar approaches were applied to the search for other antibiotics. One of the products of this search was the compound patulin, initially isolated from filtrates of a strain of Penicillium claviforme by Chain et al. (1942). The compound, originally referred to as clariformin and possessing potent antibacterial activity, was the subject of numerous chemical and biological studies soon after its isolation from a strain of Penicillium patulum Painier and characterization by Birkinshaw et al. (1943). Elucidation of the structure was made by Woodward and Singh (1949). It has since been shown to be produced by several species of Aspergillus and Penicillium and at least one species of Byssochlamys, as reviewed by Ciegler (1977) and Stott and Bullerman (1975).