Abstract
Fumonisin-contaminated maize (Zea mays L.) products are a major health concern because of their toxic effects in humans and animals. Breeding maize for increased mycotoxin resistance is one of the key sustainable strategies for mitigating the effects of fumonisin contamination. Recent studies suggest a link between fumonisin accumulation and plant lipid and oxylipin profiles. However, the data collected so far do not reveal a cause-and-effect relationship. In this study, to decipher the multifactorial nature of mycotoxin resistance and plant–pathogen interaction mechanisms, we examined the oxylipin and complex lipid profiles of two maize hybrids (H21 and H22, the latter showing significantly lower FBs content) grown in the open field in two locations over 3years. Untargeted ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight (UHPLC-Q-TOF), together with chemometrics analysis, successfully distinguished between the two hybrids as having low- and high-level fumonisin contamination. Considering that H21 and H22 were exposed to the same environmental factors, the higher activation of lipid signaling systems in H22 suggests that other routes are enabled in the less susceptible hybrids to limit fumonisin B (FB) accumulation. Our results highlighted the crucial role played by oxylipin and sphingolipid signaling in modulating the complex maize response to F. verticillioides infection. Overall, our results returned a global view on the changes in lipid metabolites related to fumonisin accumulation under open field conditions, and revealed a strong activation of the lipid signaling cascade in maize in the presence of FB1.
Highlights
Climate change has been recognized as the major driver of the increase in mycotoxin occurrence/ co-occurrence in food and feed commodities worldwide (Battilani et al, 2016; Leggieri et al, 2020)
All samples were found to be fumonisin-contaminated, with the sum of fumonisin B1 (FB1), FB2, and FB3 ranging from the limit of detection (LOD: 10 μg/kg) to 32,386 μg/kg
We investigated the effects of the three main factors on FB1 and total fumonisin B (FB), because FB2 and FB3 are less abundant than FB1 ant their amount is strictly correlated with FB1
Summary
Climate change has been recognized as the major driver of the increase in mycotoxin occurrence/ co-occurrence in food and feed commodities worldwide (Battilani et al, 2016; Leggieri et al, 2020). Several strategies have been considered to control pathogen infection and mycotoxin contamination in maize, both at pre- and postharvest stages (Palumbo et al, 2020; Logrieco et al, 2021), including the use of resistant cultivars, improved agronomic practices (Mesterházy et al, 2012), crop rotation, and fungicide and insecticide application (Folcher et al, 2009; Mazzoni et al, 2011; Alberts et al, 2016). Breeding for mycotoxin resistance is so far considered as one of the most promising and sustainable approaches for preventing FB contamination in maize (Gaikpa and Miedaner, 2019; Mesterhazy et al, 2020)
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