Henriqueta Louro Henriqueta Louro Ariane Vettorazzi Ariane Vettorazzi Adela López de Cerain Adela López de Cerain Anastasia Spyropoulou Anastasia Spyropoulou Anita Solhaug Anita Solhaug Anne Straumfors Anne Straumfors Anne-Cathrin Behr Anne-Cathrin Behr Birgit Mertens Birgit Mertens Bojana Žegura Bojana Žegura Christiane Kruse Fæste Christiane Kruse Fæste Dieynaba Ndiaye Dieynaba Ndiaye Eliana Spilioti Eliana Spilioti Elisabeth Varga Elisabeth Varga Estelle Dubreil Estelle Dubreil Eszter Borsos Eszter Borsos Francesco Crudo Francesco Crudo Gunnar Sundstøl Eriksen Gunnar Sundstøl Eriksen Igor Snapkow Igor Snapkow Jérôme Henri Jérôme Henri Julie Sanders Julie Sanders Kyriaki Machera Kyriaki Machera Laurent Gaté Laurent Gaté Ludovic Le Hegarat Ludovic Le Hegarat Matjaž Novak Matjaž Novak Nicola M. Smith Nicola M. Smith Solveig Krapf Solveig Krapf Sonja Hager Sonja Hager Valérie Fessard Valérie Fessard Yvonne Kohl Yvonne Kohl Maria João Silva Maria João Silva Hubert Dirven Hubert Dirven Jessica Dietrich Jessica Dietrich Doris Marko Doris Marko Springer 2024 Fungi of the genus Alternaria are ubiquitous plant pathogens and saprophytes which are able to grow under varying temperature and moisture conditions as well as on a large range of substrates. A spectrum of structurally diverse secondary metabolites with toxic potential has been identified, but occurrence and relative proportion of the different metabolites in complex mixtures depend on strain, substrate, and growth conditions. This review compiles the available knowledge on hazard identification and characterization of Alternaria toxins. Alternariol (AOH), its monomethylether AME and the perylene quinones altertoxin I (ATX-I), ATX-II, ATX-III, alterperylenol (ALP), and stemphyltoxin III (STTX-III) showed in vitro genotoxic and mutagenic properties. Of all identified Alternaria toxins, the epoxide-bearing analogs ATX-II, ATX-III, and STTX-III show the highest cytotoxic, genotoxic, and mutagenic potential in vitro. Under hormone-sensitive conditions, AOH and AME act as moderate xenoestrogens, but in silico modeling predicts further Alternaria toxins as potential estrogenic factors. Recent studies indicate also an immunosuppressive role of AOH and ATX-II; however, no data are available for the majority of Alternaria toxins. Overall, hazard characterization of Alternaria toxins focused, so far, primarily on the commercially available dibenzo-α-pyrones AOH and AME and tenuazonic acid (TeA). Limited data sets are available for altersetin (ALS), altenuene (ALT), and tentoxin (TEN). The occurrence and toxicological relevance of perylene quinone-based Alternaria toxins still remain to be fully elucidated. We identified data gaps on hazard identification and characterization crucial to improve risk assessment of Alternaria mycotoxins for consumers and occupationally exposed workers. PDFDocument eng 2025-07-09T08:10:27.894830Z 2024 Humans perylene Alternaria Metabolism Mycotoxinstoxicity Analysis Mutagenstoxicity Metabolism Lactonestoxicity Metabolism Risk Assessment Food Contamination Analysis 3332621 b application/pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/