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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 #331456
Title: Veterinary Fusarioses within the United States

Author
item O Donnell, Kerry
item SUTTON, DEANNA - University Of Texas Health Science Center
item FOTHERGILL, ANNETTE - University Of Texas Health Science Center
item WIEDERHOLD, NATHAN - University Of Texas Health Science Center
item ROBERT, VINCENT A. R. - Fungal Biodiversity
item CROUS, PEDRO - Fungal Biodiversity
item GEISER, DAVID - Pennsylvania State University

Submitted to: Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2016
Publication Date: 11/1/2016
Publication URL: https://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/5832873
Citation: O'Donnell, K., Sutton, D.A., Wiederhold, N., Robert, V.A.R.G., Crous, P.W., Geiser, D.M. 2016. Veterinary Fusarioses within the United States. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 54(11):2813-2819.

Interpretive Summary: Species of the filamentous mold Fusarium are best known as toxin-producing plant pathogens. However, these fungi have been shown to cause infections of diverse domesticated animals and ones housed in zoological parks. Fusaria are responsible for a broad spectrum of infections in animals, with ones involving eyes and skin being the most common. In the past, morphology alone was typically used to identify the etiological agent. However, the available molecular data indicates most of the veterinary important fusaria can only be identified to the species level using DNA sequence data from portions of one or more informative genes. To date only a relatively small number of Fusarium strains from veterinary sources have been included in multilocus molecular phylogenetic studies. Therefore, we used multilocus DNA sequence data to retrospectively assess the genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships of 67 Fusarium strains from veterinary sources, most of which were from the United States. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the strains comprised 23 phylogenetically distinct species distributed among eight species complexes. In addition, 70% of the strains were nested within the F. solani species complex (FSSC), and these included 8 species and 33 unique 3-locus sequence types. The DNA sequence data generated in this study have been deposited in the web-accessible FUSARIUM-ID (http://isolate.fusariumdb.org) and Fusarium MLST (http://www.cbs.knaw.nl/fusarium) databases to facilitate strain typing via the Internet. Lastly, the genetically characterized strains are available to the scientific community via the ARS Culture Collection (NRRL) to promote further study. The results of this study will be of interest to veterinarians, epidemiologists, clinical microbiologists, zookeepers, and individuals who care for domestic animals.

Technical Abstract: Multilocus DNA sequence data was used to retrospectively assess the genetic diversity and evolutionary relationships of 67 Fusarium strains from veterinary sources, most of which were from the United States. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that the strains comprised 23 phylogenetically distinct species distributed among eight species complexes. The majority of the veterinary isolates (47/67 = 70.1%) were nested within the F. solani species complex (FSSC), and these included 8 phylospecies and 33 unique 3-locus sequence types (STs). Three of the FSSC species (F. falciforme, F. keratoplasticum, and Fusarium sp. FSSC 12) accounted for four-fifths of the veterinary strains (38/47) and STs (27/33) within this clade. Most of the F. falciforme strains (12/15) were recovered from equine keratitis infections; however, strains of F. keratoplasticum and Fusarium sp. FSSC 12, by comparison, were mostly (25/27) isolated from marine vertebrates and invertebrates. Our sampling suggests that the F. incarnatum-equiseti (FIESC) species complex, with eight mycoses-associated species, may represent the second most important veterinary relevant clade within Fusarium. Six of the multilocus STs within the FSSC (3+4-eee, 1-b, 12-a, 12-b, 12-f, and 12-h) and one each within the FIESC (1-a) and F. oxysporum species complex (ST-33) were widespread geographically, including three with trans-oceanic disjunctions. The DNA sequence data generated in this study have been deposited in the web-accessible FUSARIUM-ID (http://isolate.fusariumdb.org) and Fusarium MLST (http://www.cbs.knaw.nl/fusarium) databases to facilitate strain typing via the Internet. In conclusion, fusaria associated with veterinary mycoses are phylogenetically diverse and typically can only be identified to the species level using DNA sequence data from portions of one or more informative genes.