luteoskyrin

Luteoskyrin is a carcinogenic mycotoxin with the molecular formula which is produced by the mold Penicillium islandicum. Luteoskyrin has strong cytotoxic effects. Luteoskyrin can cause the yellow rice disease.

== History == The mold Talaromyces (Penicillium) islandicus was discovered in the Japanese South Sea Islands after World War II. At that time, the country was facing a crisis and relied on imported food from countries such as Egypt. Around the 1950s, the Japanese government started health inspections and realized that some of the rice was yellow. Fungal isolation experiments were performed from which T. islandicus was identified as a key agent. Further experiments lead to the discovery of a yellow, crystalline pigment which they named luteoskyrin. Mold contaminated rice was then discovered to produce liver cirrhosis and liver tumours in rats, a condition named "Yellow Rice Syndrome".