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is a major plant pathogen that causes devastating diseases of cereals and produces type B trichothecene (TCTB) mycotoxins in infected grains. A comprehensive understanding of the molecular and biochemical mechanisms underlying the regulation of TCTB biosynthesis is required for improving strategies to control the TCTB contamination of crops and ensuring that these strategies do not favor the production of other toxic metabolites by Elucidation of the association of TCTB biosynthesis with other central and specialized processes was the focus of this study. CombinedH nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) analyses were used to compare the exo- and endometabolomes of grown under toxin-inducing and -repressing caffeic acid conditions. Ninety-five metabolites were putatively or unambiguously identified, including 26 primary and 69 specialized metabolites. Our data demonstrated that the inhibition of TCTB production induced by caffeic acid exposure was associated with significant changes in the secondary and primary metabolism of, although the fungal growth was not affected. The main metabolic changes were an increase in the accumulation of several polyketides, including toxic ones, alterations in the tricarboxylic organic acid cycle, and modifications in the metabolism of several amino acids and sugars. While these findings provide insights into the mechanisms that govern the inhibition of TCTB production by caffeic acid, they also demonstrate the interdependence between the biosynthetic pathway of TCTB and several primary and specialized metabolic pathways. These results provide further evidence of the multifaceted role of TCTB in the life cycle of is a major plant pathogen that causes devastating diseases of cereal crops and produces type B trichothecene (TCTB) mycotoxins in infected grains. The best way to restrict consumer exposure to TCTB is to limit their production before harvest, which requires increasing the knowledge on the mechanisms that regulate their biosynthesis. Using a metabolomics approach, we investigated the interconnection between the TCTB production pathway and several fungal metabolic pathways. We demonstrated that alteration in the TCTB biosynthetic pathway can have a significant impact on other metabolic pathways, including the biosynthesis of toxic polyketides, and vice versa. These findings open new avenues for identifying fungal targets for the design of molecules with antimycotoxin properties and therefore improving sustainable strategies to fight against diseases caused by Our data further demonstrate that analyses should consider all fungal toxic metabolites rather than the targeted family of mycotoxins when assessing the efficacy of control strategies.

Fusarium graminearum is a fungal pathogen that can colonize small-grain cereals and maize and secrete type B trichothecene (TCTB) mycotoxins. The development of environmental-friendly strategies guaranteeing the safety of food and feed is a key challenge facing agriculture today. One of these strategies lies on the promising capacity of products issued from natural sources to counteract crop pests. In this work, the in vitro efficiency of sixteen extracts obtained from eight natural sources using subcritical water extraction at two temperatures was assessed against fungal growth and TCTB production by F. graminearum. Maritime pine sawdust extract was shown to be extremely efficient, leading to a significant inhibition of up to 89% of the fungal growth and up to 65% reduction of the mycotoxin production by F. graminearum. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of this active extract revealed the presence of three families of phenolics with a predominance of methylated compounds and suggested that the abundance of methylated structures, and therefore of hydrophobic compounds, could be a primary factor underpinning the activity of the maritime pine sawdust extract. Altogether, our data support that wood/forest by-products could be promising sources of bioactive compounds for controlling F. graminearum and its production of mycotoxins.

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