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Metabiotic Association of Fusarium, Alternaria, and Rhizoctonia with Clostridium botulinum in Fresh Tomatoes
Author(s) -
DRAUGHON F. A.,
CHEN S.,
MUNDT J. O.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.1988.tb10190.x
Subject(s) - clostridium sporogenes , alternaria , rhizoctonia , clostridium botulinum , fusarium , inoculation , biology , food science , microbiology and biotechnology , horticulture , toxin , clostridium , bacteria , rhizoctonia solani , genetics
Clostridium sporogenes and C. botulinum grew, and toxin was produced by C. botulinum in a metabiotic relationship with fungi in fresh tomatoes. Fungi of the genera Alternaria, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium were studied. Infection of tomatoes with the fungi increased the pH of tomato tissues as high as pH 8.0. A gradient in pH across the tomato tissue was observed with pH in healthy tissue at approximately normal values (pH 4.3 to pH 4.5). Macerates from tomatoes inoculated with C. botulinum and Alternaria or Fusarium were toxic to mice but Rhizoctonia infected tomatoes did not tend to support toxin production by C. botulinum even though the pH of infected tomatoes was pH 5.3 to 7.6.