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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 #354551
Research Project: Genomic and Metabolomic Approaches for Detection and Control of Fusarium, Fumonisins and Other Mycotoxins on Corn

Location: Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research

Title: Variation in secondary metabolite production potential in the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex revealed by comparative analysis of 13 genomes

Author
item VILLANI, ALESSANDRA - National Research Council - Italy
item Proctor, Robert
item Brown, Daren
item Kim, Hye-Seon
item LOGRIECO, ANTONIO - National Research Council - Italy
item AMATULLI, MARIA - Thales Alenia Space
item MORETTI, ANTONIO - National Research Council - Italy
item SUSCA, ANTONIA - National Research Council - Italy

Submitted to: BMC Genomics
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/25/2019
Publication Date: 4/24/2019
Citation: Villani, A., Proctor, R.H., Kim, H.-S., Brown, D.W., Logrieco, A.F., Amatulli, M.T., Moretti, A., Susca, A. 2019. Variation in secondary metabolite production potential in the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex revealed by comparative analysis of 13 genomes. BMC Genomics. 20:314. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-5567-7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-019-5567-7

Interpretive Summary: The fungus Fusarium poses a dual threat to agriculture because it causes damaging crop diseases and it can contaminate crops with toxins that are harmful to the health of humans and domestic animals. Collectively, fungi produce thousands of metabolites that are not essential for growth or development, but instead contribute to the ability to compete with other microbes, infect hosts, or live in certain habitats. These so called secondary metabolites (SMs) include pigments, plant hormones, and toxins. Three Fusarium toxins (fumonisins, trichothecenes, and zearalenone) are among the fungal toxins of greatest concern to food and feed safety. Genes that are directly responsible for synthesis of multiple Fusarium SMs have been identified, and the presence of the genes in species is a good predictor of SM production ability. In this study, we used genome sequence analyses to assess the presence of genes responsible for synthesis of all SMs in eleven species of the Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC), a group of closely related Fusarium species that occur widely on crops and in agricultural soils. The analyses revealed tremendous variation in secondary metabolite production potential within FIESC. For example, only four species had genes for zearalenone synthesis, while all species had genes for trichothecene synthesis, and none had genes for fumonisin synthesis. We also found evidence that gene deletion and direct transfer of genes from other fungi have contributed to variation in the presence of SM genes in FIESC. The variation in toxin production potential discovered in this study indicates that the risk to food and feed safety posed by FIESC species is not uniform.

Technical Abstract: The Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC) comprises 33 phylogenetically distinct species that have been recovered from diverse biological sources, but have been most often isolated from agricultural plants and soils. Collectively, members of FIESC can produce diverse mycotoxins. However, because the species diversity of FIESC has been recognized only recently, the potential of species to cause mycotoxin contamination of crop plants is unclear. In this study, therefore, we used comparative genomics to investigate the distribution of and variation in genes and gene clusters responsible for the synthesis of mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites (SMs) in FIESC.