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Fusarium
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Fusarium

A special issue of Pathogens (ISSN 2076-0817). This special issue belongs to the section "Fungal Pathogens".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2018) | Viewed by 35609

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Tapani Yli-Mattila

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Molecular Plant Biology, Department of Biochemistry, University of Turku, FI-20520 Turku, Finland
Interests: fungal species; Fusarium and Aspergillus species; fungi used in biological control; toxigenic fungi
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

 Fusarium species are among the most important phytopathogenic and toxigenic fungi. The most economically-important member of Fusarium is F. oxysporum, which has a world-wide distribution and is common in a wide range of soils. F. oxysporum is extremely genetically variable, making identification by morphology difficult. It causes vascular wilt, damping-off and rot on numerous host plants. Several Fusarium species are involved in Fusarium head blight (FHB), which reduces both crop yield and the quality of cereals. FHB was first described in England and Russian Far East in 1880’s. Since then FHB has increased worldwide.  The most significant effects of Fusarium toxins on human health that have been described took place in the former Soviet Union before and during World War II. The most important mycotoxins produced by them in northern and cooler areas are trichothecenes, zearalenone , moniliformin  and enniatins , including beauvericin .

Fumonisins are considered among the important mycotoxins groups which are associated with human esophageal cancer and livestock diseases. These mycotoxins are mainly produced by F. verticillioides, which is more common in the tropical and subtropical regions and humid temperate regions Morphological description has been the basis for Fusarium taxonomy and identification of Fusarium species. There have been a lot of problems in species identification. Hence, biochemical, biological, molecular and phylogenetic methods have been applied to Fusarium to solve these problems.

Dr. Tapani Yli-Mattila
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Fusarium
  • Fusarium head blight
  • mycotoxins
  • wilt diseases
  • taxonomy
  • phylogeny

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 783 KiB  
Article
Preliminary Study on the Use of Chitosan as an Eco-Friendly Alternative to Control Fusarium Growth and Mycotoxin Production on Maize and Wheat
by Vanessa G. L. Zachetti, Eugenia Cendoya, María J. Nichea, Sofía N. Chulze and María L. Ramirez
Pathogens 2019, 8(1), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens8010029 - 05 Mar 2019
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3625
Abstract
The objectives of the present study were to determine the combined effects of chitosan and water activity (aW) on growth and mycotoxin production in situ on the two most important Fusarium species (F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides) present on [...] Read more.
The objectives of the present study were to determine the combined effects of chitosan and water activity (aW) on growth and mycotoxin production in situ on the two most important Fusarium species (F. proliferatum and F. verticillioides) present on maize, and on F. graminearum, the main pathogen causing Fusarium head blight on wheat. Results showed that low-molecular-weight chitosan with more than 70% deacetylation at the lowest dose used (0.5 mg/g) was able to reduce deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisin (FBs) production on irradiated maize and wheat grains. Growth rates of F. graminearum also decreased at the lowest chitosan dose used (0.5 mg/g), while F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum growth rates were reduced at 0.98 aW at the highest chitosan dose used (2 mg/g). Since mycotoxins are unavoidable contaminants in food and feed chains, their presence needs to be reduced in order to minimize their effects on human and animal health and to diminish the annual market loss through rejected maize and wheat; in this scenario, pre- and post-harvest use of chitosan could be an important alternative. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium)
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15 pages, 8867 KiB  
Article
Morphological and Molecular Variation Between Fusarium avenaceum, Fusarium arthrosporioides and Fusarium anguioides Strains
by Tapani Yli-Mattila, Taha Hussien, Olga Gavrilova and Tatiana Gagkaeva
Pathogens 2018, 7(4), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens7040094 - 29 Nov 2018
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 7737
Abstract
Fusarium avenaceum and closely related species are common fungi on various plants, cultivated in different climatic regions. The aim of this study was to determine the taxonomic affiliations of the F. avenaceum, Fusarium arthrosporioides, and Fusarium anguioides strains by using morphological, physiological [...] Read more.
Fusarium avenaceum and closely related species are common fungi on various plants, cultivated in different climatic regions. The aim of this study was to determine the taxonomic affiliations of the F. avenaceum, Fusarium arthrosporioides, and Fusarium anguioides strains by using morphological, physiological and molecular-genetic approaches. Twenty-six single-spored morphologically identified strains, which were mainly from cereals, were investigated in order to find out, if they belong to a separate species. Pathogenicity of strains to wheat seedlings and ISSR (Inter Simple Sequence Repeats) fingerprint and beta-tubulin DNA sequence patterns were analyzed. According to phylogenetic analyses, the strains could be divided into two big groups consisting of mostly F. avenaceum or F. anguioides strains. F. arthrosporioides was not detected as a separate species by the sum of the characters. F. anguioides was characterized as a separate species, which could be identified by morphological and molecular data. High genetic diversity of the F. avenaceum and related species was revealed. One F. anguioides strain (rudbeckia, Vladivostok, Russia), had an identical beta-tubulin sequence with two previously sequenced strains of Fusarium tricinctum species complex, which were isolated from dicotyledonous plants in Asia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium)
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11 pages, 9449 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Camphor Effects on Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum at Different Molecular Levels
by Aylin Gazdağlı, Özlem Sefer, Emre Yörük, Gülin İnci Varol, Tuğba Teker and Gülruh Albayrak
Pathogens 2018, 7(4), 90; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens7040090 - 22 Nov 2018
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4058
Abstract
Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum are phytopathogens, which cause destructive diseases in cereals. Epidemics of these phytopathogens are caused by mycotoxin contamination and the reduction of crop quality. In this study, the alteration due to in vitro camphor treatment on F. culmorum 9F [...] Read more.
Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum are phytopathogens, which cause destructive diseases in cereals. Epidemics of these phytopathogens are caused by mycotoxin contamination and the reduction of crop quality. In this study, the alteration due to in vitro camphor treatment on F. culmorum 9F and F. graminearum H11 isolates was investigated in terms of epigenetic, cellular, and transcription levels. Camphor with different concentrations (0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1, 2, and 4 µg/µL) was applied to potato dextrose agar (PDA) growth media. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) were calculated as 2 and 1 µg/µL, respectively. hog1, mst20, CAT, POD, mgv1, stuA, and tri5 genes, which are related to various cellular processes and pathogenesis, were examined by qPCR assay. qPCR analysis showed that camphor treatment leads to the downregulation of tri5 expression but the upregulation of the remaining genes. Apoptosis and oxidative stress were confirmed via acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) and dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCF-DA) staining, respectively. Moreover, coupled restriction enzyme digestion-random amplification (CRED-RA) assay, used for DNA methylation analysis, was carried out to evaluate epigenetic alterations. The decrease in genomic template stability (GTS) values, which resulted due to the alterations in random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) profiles caused by camphor treatment, were detected as 97.60% in F. culmorum 9F and 66.27% in F. graminearum H-11. The outer and inner methylated cytosine profiles are determined by CRED-RA assay as type I–IV epigenetic alterations. The outcomes indicated that camphor could lead to alterations at several molecular levels of F. graminearum and F. culmorum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium)
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10 pages, 573 KiB  
Communication
Soil Chemical Properties Barely Perturb the Abundance of Entomopathogenic Fusarium oxysporum: A Case Study Using a Generalized Linear Mixed Model for Microbial Pathogen Occurrence Count Data
by Lav Sharma, Irene Oliveira, Fernando Raimundo, Laura Torres and Guilhermina Marques
Pathogens 2018, 7(4), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens7040089 - 16 Nov 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3283
Abstract
Fusarium oxysporum exhibits insect pathogenicity—however, generalized concerns of releasing phytopathogens within agroecosystems marred its entomopathogenicity-related investigations. In a previous study, soils were sampled from Douro vineyards and adjacent hedgerows. In this study, 80 of those soils were analyzed for their chemical properties and [...] Read more.
Fusarium oxysporum exhibits insect pathogenicity—however, generalized concerns of releasing phytopathogens within agroecosystems marred its entomopathogenicity-related investigations. In a previous study, soils were sampled from Douro vineyards and adjacent hedgerows. In this study, 80 of those soils were analyzed for their chemical properties and were subsequently co-related with the abundance of entomopathogenic F. oxysporum, after insect baiting of soils with Galleria mellonella and Tenebrio molitor larvae. The soil chemical properties studied were organic matter content; total organic carbon; total nitrogen; available potassium; available phosphorus; exchangeable cations, such as K+, Na+, Ca2+, and Mg2+; pH; total acidity; degree of base saturation; and effective cation exchange capacity. Entomopathogenic F. oxysporum was found in 48 soils, i.e., 60% ± 5.47%, of the total soil samples. Out of the 1280 insect larvae used, 93, i.e., 7.26% ± 0.72%, were found dead by entomopathogenic F. oxysporum. Stepwise deletion of non-significant variables using a generalized linear model was followed by a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM). A higher C:N (logarithmized) (p < 0.001) and lower exchangeable K+ (logarithmized) (p = 0.008) were found significant for higher fungal abundance. Overall, this study suggests that entomopathogenic F. oxysporum is robust with regard to agricultural changes, and GLMM is a useful statistical tool for count data in ecology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium)
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Review

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15 pages, 324 KiB  
Review
Fusarium, an Entomopathogen—A Myth or Reality?
by Lav Sharma and Guilhermina Marques
Pathogens 2018, 7(4), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens7040093 - 28 Nov 2018
Cited by 44 | Viewed by 6385
Abstract
The Fusarium species has diverse ecological functions ranging from saprophytes, endophytes, and animal and plant pathogens. Occasionally, they are isolated from dead and alive insects. However, research on fusaria-insect associations is very limited as fusaria are generalized as opportunistic insect-pathogens. Additionally, their phytopathogenicity [...] Read more.
The Fusarium species has diverse ecological functions ranging from saprophytes, endophytes, and animal and plant pathogens. Occasionally, they are isolated from dead and alive insects. However, research on fusaria-insect associations is very limited as fusaria are generalized as opportunistic insect-pathogens. Additionally, their phytopathogenicity raises concerns in their use as commercial biopesticides. Insect biocontrol potential of Fusarium is favored by their excellent soil survivability as saprophytes, and sometimes, insect-pathogenic strains do not exhibit phytopathogenicity. In addition, a small group of fusaria, those belonging to the Fusarium solani species complex, act as insect mutualists assisting in host growth and fecundity. In this review, we summarize mutualism and pathogenicity among fusaria and insects. Furthermore, we assert on Fusarium entomopathogenicity by analyzing previous studies clearly demonstrating their natural insect-pathogenicity in fields, and their presence in soils. We also review the presence and/or production of a well-known insecticidal metabolite beauvericin by different Fusarium species. Lastly, some proof-of-concept studies are also summarized, which demonstrate the histological as well as immunological changes that a larva undergoes during Fusarium oxysporum pathogenesis. These reports highlight the insecticidal properties of some Fusarium spp., and emphasize the need of robust techniques, which can distinguish phytopathogenic, mutualistic and entomopathogenic fusaria. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium)
16 pages, 785 KiB  
Review
Fungal Pathogens of Maize Gaining Free Passage Along the Silk Road
by Michelle E. H. Thompson and Manish N. Raizada
Pathogens 2018, 7(4), 81; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens7040081 - 11 Oct 2018
Cited by 45 | Viewed by 9141
Abstract
Silks are the long threads at the tips of maize ears onto which pollen land and sperm nuclei travel long distances to fertilize egg cells, giving rise to embryos and seeds; however fungal pathogens also use this route to invade developing grain, causing [...] Read more.
Silks are the long threads at the tips of maize ears onto which pollen land and sperm nuclei travel long distances to fertilize egg cells, giving rise to embryos and seeds; however fungal pathogens also use this route to invade developing grain, causing damaging ear rots with dangerous mycotoxins. This review highlights the importance of silks as the direct highways by which globally important fungal pathogens enter maize kernels. First, the most important silk-entering fungal pathogens in maize are reviewed, including Fusarium graminearum, Fusarium verticillioides, and Aspergillus flavus, and their mycotoxins. Next, we compare the different modes used by each fungal pathogen to invade the silks, including susceptible time intervals and the effects of pollination. Innate silk defences and current strategies to protect silks from ear rot pathogens are reviewed, and future protective strategies and silk-based research are proposed. There is a particular gap in knowledge of how to improve silk health and defences around the time of pollination, and a need for protective silk sprays or other technologies. It is hoped that this review will stimulate innovations in breeding, inputs, and techniques to help growers protect silks, which are expected to become more vulnerable to pathogens due to climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fusarium)
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