Antimicrobial activity of the mycotoxin citrinin obtained from the fungus penicillium citrinum.

The mycotoxin Citrinin was obtained from the fungus Penicillium citrinum. It was tested for it's Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) against some gram positive strains viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus subtillis, Bacillus cereus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Lactobacillus arabinosus and gram negative strains E.Coli, Shigella dysenteriae, shigella sonnei, shigella boydii, Salmonella typhimurium, Proteus mirabilis and Vibrio cholerae. Further the zones of inhibition produced by the fungal extract against the bacterial strains were assayed and compared with those produced by the standard antibiotic ciprofloxacin.