Effects of Phenolic Acids on the Growth and Production of T-2 and HT-2 Toxins by Fusarium langsethiae and F. sporotrichioides.

The effect of natural phenolic acids was tested on the growth and production of T-2 and HT-2 toxins by Fusarium langsethiae and F. sporotrichioides, on Mycotoxin Synthetic medium. Plates treated with 0.5 mM of each phenolic acid (caffeic, chlorogenic, ferulic and p-coumaric) and controls without phenolic acid were incubated for 14 days at 25 °C. Fungal biomass of F. langsethiae and F. sporotrichioides was not reduced by the phenolic acids. However, biosynthesis of T-2 toxin by F. langsethiae was significantly reduced by chlorogenic (23.1%) and ferulic (26.5%) acids. Production of T-2 by F. sporotrichioides also decreased with ferulic acid by 23% (p < 0.05). In contrast, p-coumaric acid significantly stimulated the production of T-2 and HT-2 toxins for both strains. A kinetic study of F. langsethiae with 1 mM ferulic acid showed a significant decrease in fungal biomass, whereas T-2 production increased after 10 days of incubation. The study of gene expression in ferulic supplemented cultures of F. langsethiae revealed a significant inhibition for Tri5, Tri6 and Tri12 genes, while for Tri16 the decrease in gene expression was not statistically significant. Overall, results indicated that phenolic acids had a variable effect on fungal growth and mycotoxin production, depending on the strain and the concentration and type of phenolic acid assayed.

Fungal biotransformation of chlorogenic and caffeic acids by Fusarium graminearum: New insights in the contribution of phenolic acids to resistance to deoxynivalenol accumulation in cereals.

Fusarium Head Blight and Gibberella Ear Rot, mainly caused by the fungi Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium culmorum, are two of the most devastating diseases of small-grain cereals and maize. In addition to yield loss, these diseases frequently result in contamination of kernels with toxic type B trichothecenes. The potential involvement of chlorogenic acid in cereal resistance to Fusarium Head Blight and Gibberella Ear Rot and to trichothecene accumulation was the focus of this study. The effects of chlorogenic acid and one of its hydrolyzed products, caffeic acid, on fungal growth and type B trichothecenes biosynthesis were studied using concentrations close to physiological amounts quantified in kernels and a set of F. graminearum and F. culmorum strains. Both chlorogenic and caffeic acids negatively impact fungal growth and mycotoxin production, with caffeic acid being significantly more toxic. Inhibitory efficiencies of both phenolic acids were strain-dependent. To further investigate the antifungal and anti "mycotoxin" effect of chlorogenic and caffeic acids, the metabolic fate of these two phenolic acids was characterized in supplemented F. graminearum broths. For the first time, our results demonstrated the ability of F. graminearum to degrade chlorogenic acid into caffeic, hydroxychlorogenic and protocatechuic acids and caffeic acid into protocatechuic and hydroxycaffeic acids. Some of these metabolic products can contribute to the inhibitory efficiency of chlorogenic acid that, therefore, can be compared as a "pro-drug". As a whole, our data corroborate the contribution of chlorogenic acid to the chemical defense that cereals employ to counteract F. graminearum and its production of mycotoxins.

The bZIP transcription factor Fgap1 mediates oxidative stress response and trichothecene biosynthesis but not virulence in Fusarium graminearum.

Redox sensing is of primary importance for fungi to cope with oxidant compounds found in their environment. Plant pathogens are particularly subject to the oxidative burst during the primary steps of infection. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it is the transcription factor Yap1 that mediates the response to oxidative stress via activation of genes coding for detoxification enzymes. In the cereal pathogen Fusarium graminearum, Fgap1 a homologue of Yap1 was identified and its role was investigated. During infection, this pathogen produces mycotoxins belonging to the trichothecenes family that accumulate in the grains. The global regulation of toxin biosynthesis is not completely understood. However, it is now clearly established that an oxidative stress activates the production of toxins by F. graminearum. The involvement of Fgap1 in this activation was investigated. A deleted mutant and a strain expressing a truncated constitutive form of Fgap1 were constructed. None of the mutants was affected in pathogenicity. The deleted mutant showed higher level of trichothecenes production associated with overexpression of Tri genes. Moreover activation of toxin accumulation in response to oxidative stress was no longer observed. Regarding the mutant with the truncated constitutive form of Fgap1, toxin production was strongly reduced. Expression of oxidative stress response genes was not activated in the deleted mutant and expression of the gene encoding the mitochondrial superoxide dismutase MnSOD1 was up-regulated in the mutant with the truncated constitutive form of Fgap1. Our results demonstrate that Fgap1 plays a key role in the link between oxidative stress response and F. graminearum secondary metabolism.

Chlorogenic acid and maize ear rot resistance: a dynamic study investigating Fusarium graminearum development, deoxynivalenol production, and phenolic acid accumulation.

Fusarium graminearum is the causal agent of Gibberella ear rot and produces trichothecene mycotoxins. Basic questions remain unanswered regarding the kernel stages associated with trichothecene biosynthesis and the kernel metabolites potentially involved in the regulation of trichothecene production in planta. In a two-year field study, F. graminearum growth, trichothecene accumulation, and phenolic acid composition were monitored in developing maize kernels of a susceptible and a moderately resistant variety using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array or mass spectrometry detection. Infection started as early as the blister stage and proceeded slowly until the dough stage. Then, a peak of trichothecene accumulation occurred and infection progressed exponentially until the final harvest time. Both F. graminearum growth and trichothecene production were drastically reduced in the moderately resistant variety. We found that chlorogenic acid is more abundant in the moderately resistant variety, with levels spiking in the earliest kernel stages induced by Fusarium infection. This is the first report that precisely describes the kernel stage associated with the initiation of trichothecene production and provides in planta evidence that chlorogenic acid may play a role in maize resistance to Gibberella ear rot and trichothecene accumulation.