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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316445
Title: Genetic variation in isolates of the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex recovered from cereals

Author
item VILLANI, A - National Research Council - Italy
item Proctor, Robert
item Brown, Daren
item McCormick, Susan
item LOGRIECO, A - National Research Council - Italy
item MORETTI, A - National Research Council - Italy
item SUSCA, A - National Research Council - Italy

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/14/2015
Publication Date: 5/14/2015
Citation: Villani, A., Proctor, R., Brown, D.W., Mccormick, S.P., Logrieco, A., Moretti, A., Susca, A. 2015. Genetic variation in isolates of the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex recovered from cereals [abstract].

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC) includes mycotoxigenic species associated with several diseases of cereals and other crops. These species are considered moderately aggressive and are reported to produce multiple mycotoxins, including beauvericin, zearalenone, equisetin, fusarochromanone, butenolide as well as the trichothecenes DAS, MAS, FUS-X, DON, NIV, and scirpentriol. Thus, members of FIESC are potential contributors to mycotoxin contamination of cereals. FIESC includes high levels of cryptic speciation as most species within the complex cannot be distinguished from one another by morphological traits. However, a previous DNA-based analysis of human isolates from the US resolved FIESC into 28 phylogenetically distinct species, or multilocus sequence types (MLSTs). Here, we investigated the phylogenetic diversity of 69 FIESC isolates recovered from cereals grown in Europe and North America by comparison to the previously described MLSTs. In phylogenetic analyses of the four housekeeping genes EF-1a, RPB2, CaM and TUB2, 4 isolates were resolved within the F. incarnatum clade of FIESC, and all other isolates were resolved within the F. equiseti clade. Resolution of 8 isolates into a lineage that is distinct from all previously described MLSTs suggests that they constitute a novel MLST within FIESC. Phylogenomic analysis of 12 isolates, representing one novel and 11 previously described MLSTs, inferred a phylogeny that was consistent with but more highly resolved than the phylogeny inferred from four genes. Comparative analysis of the genome sequences revealed variation in distribution of mycotoxin biosynthetic gene clusters. For example, the trichothecene cluster is present in all nine genomes, whereas the fusarin and zearalenone clusters are present in only three and four genomes respectively. These data indicate that different FIESC MLSTs vary in their genetic potential to produce and contaminate cereal crops with different mycotoxins.