Fusarium graminearum Species Complex: A Bibliographic Analysis and Web-Accessible Database for Global Mapping of Species and Trichothecene Toxin Chemotypes

Abstract

Fusarium graminearum is ranked among the five most destructive fungal pathogens that affect agroecosystems. It causes floral diseases in small grain cereals including wheat, barley and oats, as well as maize and rice. We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed studies reporting species within the Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC) and created two main data tables. The first contained summarized data from the articles including bibliographic, geographic, methodological (ID methods), host of origin and species, while the second data table contains information about the described strains such as publication, isolate code(s), host/substrate, year of isolation, geographical coordinates, species and trichothecene genotype. Analyses of the bibliographic data obtained from 123 publications from 2000 to 2021 by 498 unique authors and published in 40 journals are summarized. We describe the frequency of species and chemotypes for 16,274 strains for which geographical information was available, either provided as raw data or extracted from the publications, and sampled across six continents and 32 countries. The database and interactive interface are publicly available allowing for searches, summarization and mapping of strains according to several criteria including article, country, host, species and trichothecene genotype. The database will be updated as new articles are published and should be useful for guiding future surveys and exploring factors associated with species distribution such as climate and land use. Authors are encouraged to submit data at the strain level to the database, which is accessible at https://fgsc.netlify.app/.

A multivariate analysis of phenotypic traits of strains ofFusarium graminearumandF. meridionalesupports structure by species

“…F. graminearum is the most common species causing FHB in wheat and barley worldwide, and it is also the most frequent cause of GER and GSR in North America (Del Ponte et al, 2022). This species produces mainly DON, although there are a few subpopulations that produce primarily NIV (Del Ponte et al, 2022; Kelly & Ward, 2018).…”

“…F. graminearum is the most common species causing FHB in wheat and barley worldwide, and it is also the most frequent cause of GER and GSR in North America (Del Ponte et al, 2022). This species produces mainly DON, although there are a few subpopulations that produce primarily NIV (Del Ponte et al, 2022; Kelly & Ward, 2018). Fusarium meridionale strains typically produce NIV and are regionally dominant as causal agents of GER and GSR in southern Brazil (Kuhnem et al, 2016), north‐western Argentina (Sampietro et al, 2011) and Nepal (Desjardins & Proctor, 2011).…”

“…F. meridionale is the second most common species causing FHB in wheat in Brazil after F. graminearum (Del Ponte et al, 2015). F. meridionale has not been reported in North America (Del Ponte et al, 2022).…”

Phenotyping Fusarium head blight through seed morphology characteristics using RGB imaging

“…FHB can dramatically reduce grain quality and yield through the formation of sterile and wizened florets. FHB-infected grains suffer from major marketing, consumption, and processing constraints, which is the buildup of mycotoxins—mainly deoxynivalenol (DON) ( Del Ponte et al., 2022 ). DON inhibits protein synthesis, cutting off normal cell function, which is hazardous for the consumption of humans and animals ( Polak-Śliwińska and Paszczyk, 2021 ).…”

Evaluation of Barley and Wheat Germplasm for Resistance to Head Blight and Mycotoxin Production by Fusarium asiaticum and F. graminearum

“…It causes not only damaged grains and yield loss, but also mycotoxin accumulation in infected grains. Fusarium asiaticum and F. graminearum , which belong to Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC), are two major contributors to FHB in these crops, particularly in Korea ( Del Ponte et al, 2022 ; Jang et al, 2019 ; Lee et al, 1985 ; Shin et al, 2018 ). To date, five members ( F. graminearum , F. asiaticum , F. vorosii , F. boothii , and F. meridionale ) of the FGSC have been reported to be present in Korea with F. asiaticum predominant ( Lee et al, 2016 ).…”