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Toxins
Special Issues
Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops
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Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Mycotoxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 21515

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Paola Giorni

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of of Sustainable Crop Protection (DiProVeS), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Via Emilia Parmense, 84, 29122 Piacenza, Italy
Interests: fungal ecology; mycotoxigenic fungal species; mycotoxin production; crop protection; natural compounds for mycotoxin containment; green circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, mycotoxins in crops probably represent the greatest threat to food safety worldwide. Together with the more famous fumonisins, aflatoxins, and ochratoxins, new mycotoxins such as sterigmatocystin, enniatins, beauvericin, and moniliformin have recently been found in different crops, often simultaneously, and thus increase the need to better define mycotoxin-producing species and to increase knowledge on plant–fungi interactions and the possible role of environmental factors in their development.

This Special Issue will focus on different aspects of the plant–pathogen–environment triangle. Monitoring and identification of mycotoxin-producing species in different crops, as well as signaling of new mycotoxigenic species, represents the first essential step in understanding the role of different factors involved in pathogenesis. In particular, both in vitro experiments and in-field trials conducted to investigate specific fungal ecological needs could greatly assist in the understanding of fungal behavior, also taking into account the possibility that more than one mycotoxin-producing species could be present on the same crop at the same time, creating interactions that have so far been little investigated for their ability to influence mycotoxin production. A possible defensive role of plant constituents against fungal contamination and their influence on mycotoxin production needs to be investigated, as well as the mitigation effect of different agronomic practices.

Climate, and in particular, climate change, can have great influence on both plant wellness and fungal development, and meteorological data have to be considered together with single or multi fungal dynamics, both in vitro and in vivo, to develop or improve predictive models and obtain a reliable tool for mycotoxin containment in field. Moreover, the quantification of fungal population and mycotoxins during the post-harvest period, including the possible role of post-harvest management of crops, could provide important information to assess mycotoxin risk.

Dr. Paola Giorni
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • mycotoxins
  • mycotoxins producing fungi
  • fungal ecology
  • fungal co-presence
  • presence of multi-mycotoxins
  • crops
  • predictive models
  • plant constituents
  • agronomic practices
  • post-harvest

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 3016 KiB  
Article
Effective Zearalenone Degradation in Model Solutions and Infected Wheat Grain Using a Novel Heterologous Lactonohydrolase Secreted by Recombinant Penicillium canescens
by Larisa Shcherbakova, Alexandra Rozhkova, Dmitrii Osipov, Ivan Zorov, Oleg Mikityuk, Natalia Statsyuk, Olga Sinitsyna, Vitaly Dzhavakhiya and Arkady Sinitsyn
Toxins 2020, 12(8), 475; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12080475 - 25 Jul 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3448
Abstract
This paper reports the first results on obtaining an enzyme preparation that might be promising for the simultaneous decontamination of plant feeds contaminated with a polyketide fusariotoxin, zearalenone (ZEN), and enhancing the availability of their nutritional components. A novel ZEN-specific lactonohydrolase (ZHD) was [...] Read more.
This paper reports the first results on obtaining an enzyme preparation that might be promising for the simultaneous decontamination of plant feeds contaminated with a polyketide fusariotoxin, zearalenone (ZEN), and enhancing the availability of their nutritional components. A novel ZEN-specific lactonohydrolase (ZHD) was expressed in a Penicillium canescens strain PCA-10 that was developed previously as a producer of different hydrolytic enzymes for feed biorefinery. The recombinant ZHD secreted by transformed fungal clones into culture liquid was shown to remove the toxin from model solutions, and was able to decontaminate wheat grain artificially infected with a zearalenone-producing Fusarium culmorum. The dynamics of ZEN degradation depending on the temperature and pH of the incubation media was investigated, and the optimal values of these parameters (pH 8.5, 30 °C) for the ZHD-containing enzyme preparation (PR-ZHD) were determined. Under these conditions, the 3 h co-incubation of ZEN and PR-ZHD resulted in a complete removal of the toxin from the model solutions, while the PR-ZHD addition (8 mg/g of dried grain) to flour samples prepared from the infected ZEN-polluted grain (about 16 µg/g) completely decontaminated the samples after an overnight exposure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops)
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13 pages, 1879 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Assessment of Biocontrol Effects on Fusarium Head Blight and Deoxynivalenol (DON) Accumulation by DON-Degrading Bacteria
by Hiroyuki Morimura, Michihiro Ito, Shigenobu Yoshida, Motoo Koitabashi, Seiya Tsushima, Maurizio Camagna, Sotaro Chiba, Daigo Takemoto, Kazuhito Kawakita and Ikuo Sato
Toxins 2020, 12(6), 399; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12060399 - 16 Jun 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4811
Abstract
Fusarium head blight (FHB) of cereals is a severe disease caused by the Fusarium graminearum species complex. It leads to the accumulation of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in grains and other plant tissues and causes substantial economic losses throughout the world. DON is [...] Read more.
Fusarium head blight (FHB) of cereals is a severe disease caused by the Fusarium graminearum species complex. It leads to the accumulation of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in grains and other plant tissues and causes substantial economic losses throughout the world. DON is one of the most troublesome mycotoxins because it is a virulence factor to host plants, including wheat, and exhibits toxicity to plants and animals. To control both FHB and DON accumulation, a biological control approach using DON-degrading bacteria (DDBs) is promising. Here, we performed a disease control assay using an in vitro petri dish test composed of germinated wheat seeds inoculated with F. graminearum (Fg) and DDBs. Determination of both grown leaf lengths and hyphal lesion lengths as a measure of disease severity showed that the inoculation of seeds with the DDBs Devosia sp. strain NKJ1 and Nocardioides spp. strains SS3 or SS4 were protective against the leaf growth inhibition caused by Fg. Furthermore, it was as effective against DON accumulation. The inoculation with strains SS3 or SS4 also reduced the inhibitory effect on leaves treated with 10 µg mL−1 DON solution (without Fg). These results indicate that the DDBs partially suppress the disease by degrading DON. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops)
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13 pages, 1257 KiB  
Article
Monitoring Phenolic Compounds in Rice during the Growing Season in Relation to Fungal and Mycotoxin Contamination
by Paola Giorni, Silvia Rastelli, Sofia Fregonara and Terenzio Bertuzzi
Toxins 2020, 12(5), 341; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins12050341 - 22 May 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4344
Abstract
Total phenolic content (TPC) and several phenolic acids present in rice grains were compared with fungal infection and mycotoxin presence throughout the growing season. Samples of 4 rice varieties were collected in 2018 and 2019 at 3 different plant phenological stages. Total fungal [...] Read more.
Total phenolic content (TPC) and several phenolic acids present in rice grains were compared with fungal infection and mycotoxin presence throughout the growing season. Samples of 4 rice varieties were collected in 2018 and 2019 at 3 different plant phenological stages. Total fungal and main mycotoxigenic fungi incidence were checked and mycotoxin content was analysed. On the same samples, TPC and the concentration of 8 main phenolic acids (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4-HBA), p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, protocatecuic acid and gallic acid) were measured. The results showed significant differences between years for both fungal incidence and mycotoxin presence. In 2018 there was a lower fungal presence (42%) than in 2019 (57%) while, regarding mycotoxins, sterigmatocystin (STC) was found in almost all the samples and at all growing stages while deoxynivalenol (DON) was found particularly during ripening. An interesting relationship was found between fungal incidence and TPC, and some phenolic acids seemed to be more involved than others in the plant defense system. Ferulic acid and protocatecuic acid showed a different trend during the growing season depending on fungal incidence and resulted to be positively correlated with p-coumaric acid and 4-HBA that seem involved in mycotoxin containment in field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops)
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15 pages, 2701 KiB  
Article
Fusarium graminearum FgCWM1 Encodes a Cell Wall Mannoprotein Conferring Sensitivity to Salicylic Acid and Virulence to Wheat
by Ya-Zhou Zhang, Qing Chen, Cai-Hong Liu, Lu Lei, Yang Li, Kan Zhao, Mei-Qiao Wei, Zhen-Ru Guo, Yan Wang, Bin-Jie Xu, Yun-Feng Jiang, Li Kong, Yan-Lin Liu, Xiu-Jin Lan, Qian-Tao Jiang, Jian Ma, Ji-Rui Wang, Guo-Yue Chen, Yu-Ming Wei, You-Liang Zheng and Peng-Fei Qiadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Toxins 2019, 11(11), 628; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins11110628 - 29 Oct 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5355
Abstract
Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight (FHB), a devastating disease of wheat. Salicylic acid (SA) is involved in the resistance of wheat to F. graminearum. Cell wall mannoprotein (CWM) is known to trigger defense responses in plants, but its role in the [...] Read more.
Fusarium graminearum causes Fusarium head blight (FHB), a devastating disease of wheat. Salicylic acid (SA) is involved in the resistance of wheat to F. graminearum. Cell wall mannoprotein (CWM) is known to trigger defense responses in plants, but its role in the pathogenicity of F. graminearum remains unclear. Here, we characterized FgCWM1 (FG05_11315), encoding a CWM in F. graminearum. FgCWM1 was highly expressed in wheat spikes by 24 h after initial inoculation and was upregulated by SA. Disruption of FgCWM1 (ΔFgCWM1) reduced mannose and protein accumulation in the fungal cell wall, especially under SA treatment, and resulted in defective fungal cell walls, leading to increased fungal sensitivity to SA. The positive role of FgCWM1 in mannose and protein accumulation was confirmed by its expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Compared with wild type (WT), ΔFgCWM1 exhibited reduced pathogenicity toward wheat, but it produced the same amount of deoxynivalenol both in culture and in spikes. Complementation of ΔFgCWM1 with FgCWM1 restored the WT phenotype. Localization analyses revealed that FgCWM1 was distributed on the cell wall, consistent with its structural role. Thus, FgCWM1 encodes a CWM protein that plays an important role in the cell wall integrity and pathogenicity of F. graminearum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops)
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9 pages, 653 KiB  
Communication
A Preliminary Survey of Cultured Fusaria from Symptomatic Legume Grains in North-Eastern Poland
by Maciej Żelechowski, Jacek Olszewski and Tomasz Kulik
Toxins 2019, 11(10), 569; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins11100569 - 29 Sep 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3030
Abstract
Legumes are amongst the most promising crops to satisfy the increasing demand for protein-rich food and feed. Today, however, their cultivation in Europe is low, while European agriculture faces a deficit of protein-rich feed, of which the largest part is met by imported [...] Read more.
Legumes are amongst the most promising crops to satisfy the increasing demand for protein-rich food and feed. Today, however, their cultivation in Europe is low, while European agriculture faces a deficit of protein-rich feed, of which the largest part is met by imported soybean. It has been suggested that some legumes can at least partially substitute for soybean in different types of feed. Despite their benefits, legumes may also remain a significant concern to human and animal health, especially regarding grain contamination with Fusaria and their mycotoxins. In this study, we determined the species composition of Fusarium field isolates recovered from diseased grains of various legumes. Our results showed that Fusarium avenaceum was mainly responsible for grain deterioration of common vetch, faba bean, and blue lupine. Besides, we found that F. equiseti also appeared to be a major pathogen of common vetch. This study is the first ever to report common vetch as a host for F. tricinctum, F. equiseti, and F. graminearum sensu stricto. Our results indicate that the composition of toxigenic Fusaria associated with grains of legumes is different than that previously observed in cereal grains. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mycotoxins and Related Fungi in Crops)
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