Fumonisin Production by Fusarium verticillioides Strains Isolated from Maize in Mexico and Development of a Polymerase Chain Reaction to Detect Potential Toxigenic Strains in Grains

Abstract

Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc. Nirenberg) in maize (Zea mays L.), a staple crop in Mexico. In this study, we report the isolation and identification of 67 Fusarium strains isolated from maize kernels collected in Northwest and Central Mexico. The strains were characterized regarding fumonisin B(1) production and the presence of the FUM1 gene. F. verticillioides was the predominant species isolated in both geographic regions, but the isolates from Northwest Mexico produced higher levels of fumonisin. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method, to detect a region of the FUM1 gene involved in fumonisin biosynthesis, was developed and employed to detect mycotoxigenic fungi in pure culture and in contaminated maize. The presence of the FUM1 gene was associated with fumonisin production in most isolates, except seven that did not synthesize fumonisin but contained the gene in their genome. The PCR method allowed the direct detection of fungal contamination in ground corn and could be employed to screen for the presence of potential mycotoxigenic fusaria.

Fumonisin B1, a toxin produced by Fusarium verticillioides, modulates maize β-1,3-glucanase activities involved in defense response

“…All biochemicals were obtained from Sigma Chemical Co (St. Louis, MO). MY3 strain was isolated previously from maize seeds and identified as FB1-producing strain (Sánchez-Rangel et al 2005).…”

“…Reverse transcription was performed with 1 lg of RNA using ImProm-II reverse transcriptase (Promega) and 1 lL of 500 lg/lL oligo dT (5 0 -TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTVN-3 0 ). Specific oligonucleotides for the amplification of FUM1 gene (accession number AF155773) were [FUM53F (5 0 -CTT GAACGCGGAGCTAGATTAT-3 0 ) and FUM53R (5 0 -AT CCGTGTATGCATATGTCGAG-3 0 )] that amplifies a 354 bp fragment (Sánchez-Rangel et al 2005) and used in this study. Tubulin gene was amplified as control using the primers 5 0 -TGCTCATTTCCAAGATCCGCG-3 0 and 5 0 -GTAGTTGAGGTCACCGTAGGAGG-3 0 that amplifies a 233 bp fragment (Hu et al 2009).…”

“…Among the toxins produced by F. verticillioides, fumonisins might be physiologically relevant for infection because they are produced by most F. verticillioides isolates (Desjardins et al 1995;Sánchez-Rangel et al 2005) and they show phytotoxic activity (van Asch et al 1992;Doehlert et al 1994;Williams et al 2007). FB1 is the major fumonisin found in naturally infected maize tissue, as it constitutes over 75% of total fumonisins (Marín et al 1995;Proctor et al 2006).…”

“…FB1 is the major fumonisin found in naturally infected maize tissue, as it constitutes over 75% of total fumonisins (Marín et al 1995;Proctor et al 2006). FB1 production is highly variable among strains; some do not produce FB1 or synthesize it at very low levels (0.1 mg/g substrate), while other strains produce up to 4 mg/g substrate (Desjardins et al 1994;Sánchez-Rangel et al 2005).…”

Effect of γ-irradiation on fumonisin producing Fusarium associated with animal and poultry feed mixtures

“…3). Sanchez-Rangel et al (2005) reported the association of FUM1 gene with fumonisin production in 54 isolates of F. verticillioides, except in seven that did not synthesize FB1 in spite of containing the gene. Another study reported that all the F. proliferatum (40.9%) isolates from asparagus contained FUM1 and FUM8 genes and also produced fumonisins ranging from 28 to 4202 lg/g in maize cultures (Wang et al 2010).…”