Fifteen Fusarium species were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography for the production of six mycotoxins in corn grits cultures. Production of mycotoxins ranged from 66 to 2,500 g/kg for fumonisin B 1 , 0.6 to 1,500 g/g for moniliformin, 2.2 to 720 g/g for beauvericin, and 12 to 130 g/g for fusaproliferin. Fumonisin B 2 (360 g/kg) was produced by two species, fumonisin B 3 was not detected in any of the 15 species examined, and Fusarium bulbicola produced none of the six mycotoxins that we analyzed.

The bacterial bioluminescence assay was used to determine the acute toxicity level of beauvericin, which was found to be moderate with an EC 50 of 94 Ϯ Ϯ Ϯ Ϯ Ϯ 9 g/mL. The Ames test was used to evaluate mutagenicity of this mycotoxin. Assays were carried out on 5 Salmonella typhimurium standard tester strains. The spot test was performed on a single beauvericin concentration of 2 g/plate. The plate incorporation test was done over a range of concentrations (0.2 to 500 g/plate), both with and without S9. A negative control and 3 positive controls, 2-aminofluorene, sodium azide, and dexon, were included in the assays. Beauvericin was nonmutagenic to any of the standard tester strains used, either with or without metabolic activation.

Twenty-nine strains from Fusarium section Liseola were screened for a zearalenone-like compound using analytical thin-layer chromatography (TLC). One metabolite had the same retention time on TLC and a similar multi-peak ultraviolet (UV) spectrum to zearalenone. Mass spectral and nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H, 13 C, 1 H-13 C heteronuclear multiple-quantum coherence) analysis gave information that helped identify the compound as the Fusarium pigment 8-O methyl bostrycoidin. The pigment was readily resolved from zearalenone with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Because this compound has a similar retention time, care should be exercised when using acid charring to visualize spots during zearalenone TLC analysis.