Deoxynivalenol

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A toxic compound produced by Fusarium molds that contaminates cereal crops such as wheat, barley and maize and causes food poisoning in animals and people
2. A mycotoxin formed by certain Fusarium fungi that grows on grains and can cause vomiting and feed refusal in livestock when eaten
3. A fungal toxin, produced by Fusarium species, that often contaminates harvested grain and is commonly known as vomitoxin

Etymology: Deoxynivalenol is a chemical name built from its structure rather than from an old word with a history. It is a mycotoxin, a poison produced by certain fungi, and its name reads like a chemist's label: "deoxy-" marks the removal of an oxygen atom from a related molecule, "-nival-" refers to the fungal genus whose species were first linked to the compound, and "-enol" marks a chemical ring structure containing a double bond and an alcohol group. Together the pieces describe a deoxygenated relative of a Fusarium toxin. The fungus behind the name is "Fusarium nivale", a species once associated with snow mould on cereal crops. The Latin "nivalis" means "of snow", so the element "nival" carries a hint of winter into a compound found in damaged grain. The name follows the standard convention of chemical nomenclature, in which a compound's composition and source are compressed into a single long word.

Synonyms: vomitoxin