Early detection of toxigenic Fusarium graminearum in wheat

Abstract

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.

Quantitative volatile compound profiles in fungal cultures of three differentFusarium graminearumchemotypes

“…graminearum metabolite examinations have been carried out on different media (Jeleń et al ., ; Girotti et al ., ). Experiments were also conducted in field experiments where spikes of cereals were inoculated (Perkowski et al ., ; Girotti et al ., ). The experiment performed by Jeleń et al .…”

“…This assumption is supported by data demonstrating the general regulatory character of Tri6 not only in enhancing the trichothecene genes but also regulating genes involved in the isoprenoid pathway and other genes (Merhej et al ., ). Some of the VOCs are characteristic for fungi belonging to the genus Fusarium and even for toxigenic isolates only (Jeleń et al ., ; Demyttenaere et al ., ; Buśko et al ., ; Girotti et al ., , ). These VOCs mainly belong to the terpenes, but they are also low‐molecular‐weight compounds belonging to other chemical groups such as pentane, oct‐3‐en‐2‐ol or heptanol (Olsson et al ., ).…”

Study of the composition of volatile organic compounds emitted by the filamentous fungus Fusarium culmorum by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with solid phase microextraction

“…During the observation period (7-10 days) its content in the equilibrium vapor above culture F. culmorum changed only slightly. Among sesquiterpenes, typical fusaric fungi [17], only 0.2% sativene was detected. Trichodiene and the sesquiterpene hydrocarbons with a molecular weight of 204 in amounts exceeding 0.1% of the total amount of VOCs were not detected.…”

“…Trichodiene and the sesquiterpene hydrocarbons with a molecular weight of 204 in amounts exceeding 0.1% of the total amount of VOCs were not detected. It was shown that trichodiene is the most abundant volatile metabolite of the sesquiterpene series in trichothecene-producing fungal species [17,18].…”

Comparison of Volatiles Profile and Contents of Trichothecenes Group B, Ergosterol, and ATP of Bread Wheat, Durum Wheat, and Triticale Grain Naturally Contaminated by Mycobiota

“…Examinations of metabolites which are considered as fungal biomass markers—ERG and ATP are also of great importance. What is most interesting are the results that indicate a correlation between these markers and mycotoxins (Borjesson et al, 1992; Perkowski et al, 2007) and their relationship with volatile compounds (Demyttenaere et al, 2004; Sahgal et al, 2007; Girotti et al, 2012; Buśko et al, 2014). …”