Guttation droplets of Penicillium nordicum and Penicillium verrucosum contain high concentrations of the mycotoxins ochratoxin A and B.

Eight of eleven ochratoxigenic isolates of Penicillium nordicum and Penicillium verrucosum produced guttation droplets when grown on Czapek yeast extract (CYA) agar for 10-14 days at 25 degrees C. Parallel cultivation of one strain each of P. nordicum and P. verrucosum on malt extract agar demonstrated that higher volumes of exudate are produced on this agar. However, HPLC analyses revealed higher concentrations of ochratoxin A (OTA) and B (OTB) in droplets originating from cultures on CYA. For quantitative determination of the mycotoxin contents, triplicates of three isolates each of P. nordicum and P. verrucosum were grown as single spot cultures on CYA for up to 14 days at 25 degrees C. Guttation droplets were carefully collected between day 11 and 14 with a microliter syringe from each culture. Extracts from exudates and corresponding mycelia as well as fungal free agar were analyzed by HPLC for the occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA) and B (OTB). Mean concentrations ranging between 92.7-8667.0 ng OTA and 159.7-2943.3 ng OTB per ml were detected in the guttation fluids. Considerably lower toxin levels were found in corresponding samples of the underlying mycelia (9.0-819.3 ng OTA and 4.5-409.7 ng OTB/g) and fungal free agar (15.3-417.0 ng OTA and 12.7-151.3 ng OTB/g). This is the first report which shows that high amounts of mycotoxins could be excreted from toxigenic Penicillium isolates into guttation droplets.