Beauvericin is a mycotoxin originally derived from B. bassiana, a common fungal parasite of arthropods. It is also produced by the fungus Fusarium, a pathogen of insects and plants. Beauvericin is cytotoxic against insect cells, killing the insect cell line SF-9 with a 50% cytotoxic concentration of 2.5 μM. In mammalian cells, beauvericin induces apoptosis with an IC50 value of 4.5 μM.
