The antifungal activity of magnolol and honokiol, two naturally occurring hydroxylated biphenyls, and of their synthetic derivatives was evaluated on a collection of representative isolates of Fusarium oxysporum , F . solani and F . verticillioides of clinical and ecological concern. The tested compounds were proposed as a ‘natural’ alternative to conventional fungicides, even though a larger range of concentrations (5–400 μg/ml) was applied. The activity of magnolol and honokiol was compared with that of terbinafine (0.1–10 μg/ml), and fluconazole (1–50 μg/ml), two fungicides widely used in treating fungal infections on humans. Magnolol showed similar fungicidal activity compared to fluconazole, whereas honokiol was more effective in inhibiting mycelium growth compared to this fungicide on all tested clinical Fusarium spp. isolates. Compared to terbinafine, honokiol showed similar antifungal activity when tested on clinical F . solani isolates, whereas magnolol was less effective at all selected concentrations (5–400 μg/ml). The different position of the phenol-OH group, as well as its protection, explain different in vitro activities between magnolol, honokiol, and their derivatives. Furthermore, magnolol showed mycelium dry weight reduction at a concentration of 0.5 mM when tested on a set of agricultural isolates of Fusaria , leading to complete inhibition of some of them. Magnolol and honokiol are proposed as efficient and safe candidates for treating clinically relevant Fusaria .

Weeds and wild plants around and within crops could serve as alternative hosts of fungal pathogens. In this work we describe the isolation of Fusarium graminearum, the main causal agent of Fusarium head blight (FHB) in Argentina from the inflorescences of healthy weed plants belonging to sixty seven gramineous and non-gramineous species, which showed no symptoms of Fusarium infection, sampled throughout a year. Fifty four of the weed species considered, belonging to 19 botanical families, were first identified as alternative hosts of F. graminearum in the present work. Furthermore, the trichothecene chemotype of a group of isolates was analysed and strains belonging to 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol, 3acetyldeoxynivalenol and nivalenol chemotypes were found. The information provided could prove valuable to study further the epidemiological role of weeds in FHB epidemics, which might help to improve management of the disease in wheat growing areas.

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Fusarium graminearum (Schwabe) contaminates agricultural crops and commodities with trichothecenes, mostly deoxynivalenol and its acetyl-derivatives. Current techniques available to detect final mycotoxin contamination products usually require an extended time lag between sampling and the corresponding report, and include different clean-up steps and eventually derivatisation. This study was aimed to develop a methodology to detect toxigenic F. graminearum prior to mycotoxin production. Headspace solid-phase microextraction coupled to capillary gas chromatography is shown to be useful to predict the potential of trichothecene mycotoxin formation by detecting the presence of F. graminearum at early stages of fungal growth in wheat cultivars, based on the detection of trichodiene (TRI), the volatile intermediate of trichothecenes. We showed that TRI is a useful marker to detect toxigenic Fusarium in wheat spikes from live plants, regardless of the actual development of Fusarium head blight (FHB). This is the first predictive methodology for FHB and trichothecene occurrence in field-collected samples. It might be a useful tool to help to prevent the risk of mycotoxin contamination.