Abstract
Sphinganine-analog mycotoxins (SAMs) including fumonisins and A. alternata f. sp. Lycopersici (AAL) toxins are a group of related mycotoxins produced by plant pathogenic fungi in the Fusarium genus and in Alternaria alternata f. sp. Lycopersici, respectively. SAMs have shown diverse cytotoxicity and phytotoxicity, causing adverse impacts on plants, animals, and humans, and are a destructive force to crop production worldwide. This review summarizes the structural diversity of SAMs and encapsulates the relationships between their structures and biological activities. The toxicity of SAMs on plants and animals is mainly attributed to their inhibitory activity against the ceramide biosynthesis enzyme, influencing the sphingolipid metabolism and causing programmed cell death. We also reviewed the detoxification methods against SAMs and how plants develop resistance to SAMs. Genetic and evolutionary analyses revealed that the FUM (fumonisins biosynthetic) gene cluster was responsible for fumonisin biosynthesis in Fusarium spp. Sequence comparisons among species within the genus Fusarium suggested that mutations and multiple horizontal gene transfers involving the FUM gene cluster were responsible for the interspecific difference in fumonisin synthesis. We finish by describing methods for monitoring and quantifying SAMs in food and agricultural products.
Highlights
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by various fungi
Sequence analyses showed that A. alternata has likely gained the ability for alternata f. sp. Lycopersici (AAL)-toxin production due to Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of the SAMs gene cluster from fumonisin-producing Fusarium species followed by independent evolution in pathogen–host interaction
Since its discovery in the mid-1980s, fumonisin has been among the mycotoxins with the greatest concern
Summary
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by various fungi. These metabolites have important ecological functions on living systems in their natural habitats. Mycotoxins are regarded as not essential for fungal growth or reproduction Their toxic effects to plants, animals, as well as humans are attracting increasing attention from chemists, biologists, food scientists, and healthcare professionals. The objective of this paper is to provide an updated review on the structural diversity, syntheses, modes of action, and health impacts of SAMs. The discovery of fumonisin was first reported in 1988 and the organism producing it was Fusarium verticillioides Fusarium strains can synthesize fumonisins during all stages of their growth, including the saprophytic stage in the soil, during their pathogenesis, and as endophytes in different parts of plants, as well as during crop storage after harvest [15]. AAL-toxins are a group of HST produced by the ascomycete fungal pathogen A. alternata f. Our objectives of this review are to capture these developments on SAMs with regard to their chemical structural diversity, the relationship between structure and activity, PCD induction, detoxification, genetics and evolution of SAMs biosynthesis, and laboratory detections
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