Abstract
Fusarium proliferatum is a fungal pathogen causing ear rot of maize. The fungus infects a range of other plants but the economic impact of these diseases has not been established. Recently, F. proliferatum and its mycotoxin fumonisin were found in wheat grains. Here we report that seed-borne infection of wheat with F. proliferatum resulted in systemic colonization of wheat plants and contamination of wheat grains with fumonisins and beauvericin. F. proliferatum strains originating from different hosts were able to infect wheat via seeds. Colonization of wheat plants with the fungus was highest in the stems, followed by leaves; one third of the strains reached kernels, causing accumulation of fumonisins and beauvericin to 15–55 µg kg-1. The results show that seed-borne infection of wheat with F. proliferatum can lead to contamination of wheat kernels with mycotoxins fumonisins and beauvericin.
Highlights
Fusarium proliferatum is a member of Gibberella fujikuroi species complex which consists of eight mating populations (MPs) and a number of asexual lineages (Leslie et al 2006), described as morphological species (Nirenberg and O’Donnell 1998)
The limited number of strains used did not allow us to conclusively attribute these differences to the origin of the strains but low amount of biomass accumulated by all seven strains isolated from asparagus indicated that the specialization of F. proliferatum to asparagus may be accompanied by a decline of aggressiveness towards wheat
F. proliferatum strains that accumulated the largest amounts of DNA in kernels caused detectable contamination of kernels with mycotoxins (Fig. 3)
Summary
Fusarium proliferatum is a member of Gibberella fujikuroi species complex which consists of eight mating populations (MPs) and a number of asexual lineages (Leslie et al 2006), described as morphological species (Nirenberg and O’Donnell 1998). Most members of G. fujikuroi species complex are economically important plant pathogens. Decreased yield as well as diminished quality of plant products due to Fusarium infection cause significant economic losses worldwide (Placinta et al 1999). F. proliferatum is a member of the complex with a wide host range. The pathogen was predominantly found in maize (Zea mays L.) but it infects rice (Abbas et al 1999). Fumonisins can be detected in symptomless infected maize kernels (Bacon and Hinton 1996)
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