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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 #337138
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: The depudecin cluster – a genetic curiosity in Fusarium langsethiae

Author
item DIVON, H - Norwegian Veterinary Institute
item LYSOE, E - Bioforsk
item SULTANI, T - Norwegian Veterinary Institute
item IVANOVA, L - Norwegian Veterinary Institute
item Proctor, Robert
item Brown, Daren

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/9/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Fusarium langsethiae is a consistent fungal contaminant on oat cereals in the Nordic region, the UK, as well as other parts of Europe. Leaving few symptoms of disease on the plant, the fungus is, however, the main producer of T-2 and HT-2 mycotoxins which can be found contaminating food and feed derived from Fusarium-infected crops. Both T-2 and HT-2 are more toxic than deoxynivalenol, causing symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea and skin irritations, and F. langsethiae is as such considered a threat to food and feed safety. In an attempt to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying F. langsethiae growth and toxin production, we performed high throughput transcriptome analysis of the fungus grown under two separate plant-mimicking conditions, based on oat flower and oat grain based media respectively, and of fungus grown in complete medium. Comparing the three media resulted in an overview of commonly and specifically expressed genes under the different conditions. Five putative genes exclusively and highly expressed on oat grain media, were identified as homologues of a secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene cluster in Alternaria brassicicola responsible for production of the polyketide mycotoxin depudecin. Searching the recently published F. langsethiae draft genome sequence we identified the putative intact depudecin gene cluster. Furthermore, extraction and HPLC-DAD analysis of fungal mycelia from oat grain media confirmed that F. langsethiae is able to produce depudecin. A survey of a wide variety of fungal species indicates that while some depudecin genes are wide spread, only a few fungi have retained a complete and putatively functional gene cluster for the biosynthesis of depudecin. F. langsethiae is one of the species with an intact cluster. To further our understanding of the role of depudecin in F. langsethiae biology we have investigated depudecin production in several F. langsethiae strains and characterized depudecin gene expression under various conditions including in planta growth.