Lipid Signaling Modulates the Response to Fumonisin Contamination and Its Source, Fusarium verticillioides, in Maize

Abstract

Fumonisin-contaminated maize (Zea mays L.) products are a major health concern because of their toxic effects in humans and animals. Breeding maize for increased mycotoxin resistance is one of the key sustainable strategies for mitigating the effects of fumonisin contamination. Recent studies suggest a link between fumonisin accumulation and plant lipid and oxylipin profiles. However, the data collected so far do not reveal a cause-and-effect relationship. In this study, to decipher the multifactorial nature of mycotoxin resistance and plant–pathogen interaction mechanisms, we examined the oxylipin and complex lipid profiles of two maize hybrids (H21 and H22, the latter showing significantly lower FBs content) grown in the open field in two locations over 3years. Untargeted ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight (UHPLC-Q-TOF), together with chemometrics analysis, successfully distinguished between the two hybrids as having low- and high-level fumonisin contamination. Considering that H21 and H22 were exposed to the same environmental factors, the higher activation of lipid signaling systems in H22 suggests that other routes are enabled in the less susceptible hybrids to limit fumonisin B (FB) accumulation. Our results highlighted the crucial role played by oxylipin and sphingolipid signaling in modulating the complex maize response to F. verticillioides infection. Overall, our results returned a global view on the changes in lipid metabolites related to fumonisin accumulation under open field conditions, and revealed a strong activation of the lipid signaling cascade in maize in the presence of FB1.

Investigating Metabolic Plant Response toward Deoxynivalenol Accumulation in Four Winter Cereals

“…Sphingolipids are also differently accumulated in the two groups. This has been already associated with the accumulation of fumonisins in maize infected by F. verticillioides , as a consequence of the FB-dependent inhibition of ceramide synthase. Because DON does not act as CerS inhibitor, the accumulation of sphingolipids may be linked to programmed cell death mediated by reactive oxygen intermediates, as already reported in A. thaliana . , In particular, ceramides are higher in HC, while glycosphingolipids are mainly accumulated in the LC group.…”

“…Samples were analyzed by UHPLC-Q-TOF-MS under a fully untargeted approach previously developed by our group. − After a quality assessment, data were filtered by choosing entities present with a rate of 100% in at least one sample group, resulting in a reduced data set of 1889 features (the full data set is available as SI, Table S3). The raw data were subjected to PCA to obtain an overview of the trend in an unsupervised manner; as expected, clustering according to the genotype can be appreciated (Figure A), while no grouping based on DON accumulation was observed (Figure B).…”

Metabolomics Insight into the Variety-Mediated Responses to Aspergillus carbonarius Infection in Grapevine Berries

“…This situation has already been reported, even for Fusarium verticillioides and fumonisin contamination in maize. 66 This may indicate that, at least under our experimental conditions, JA may represent a response to infection rather than a protection factor at the time of our metabolomic investigation.…”

Influence of Endosperm Starch Composition on Maize Response to Fusarium temperatum Scaufl. & Munaut

“…In the United States and Ontario, Canada, occurrence of FER caused yield losses of 349.2 million bushels in the period 2012–2015 and contributed to mycotoxin contamination estimated at the level of 4529.1 million bushels for maize kernels damaged with toxigenic species [ 36 ]. Among a large number of species responsible for FER, the significance of Fusarium verticillioides has been studied most comprehensively [ 37 , 38 , 39 ]. In the current studies, we focused on maize infection with Fusarium temperatum.…”