Development of a PCR assay to detect the potential production of nivalenol in Fusarium poae

DINOLFO M.I., BARROS G.G. & STENGLEIN S.A.

FEMS MICROBIOLOGY LETTERS

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2012 vol. 332 p. 99 - 104

0378-1097

Fusarium species can produce mycotoxins, which can contaminate cereal based food producing adverse effects for human and animal health. In the last years, the importance of F. poae has increased within the Fusarium head blight complex. F. poae is known to produce trichothecenes, in special nivalenol, a potent mycotoxin able to cause a variety of toxic effects. In this study, a specific primer pair was designed based on the tri7 gene to detect potential nivalenol producing F. poae isolates. One hundred twenty five F. poae, 4 F. cerealis, 2 F. culmorum, 1 F. langsethiae, 1 F. sporotrichioides and 7 F. graminearum, plus F. austroamericanum, F. meridionale, F. graminearum sensu stricto, and F. cortaderiae from the NRRL collection, were analyzed, and only F. poae isolates gave a positive result for the presence of a 296 bp partial tri7 DNA fragment. Moreover, the primer set was tested from cereal seed samples where F. poae and other Fusarium species with a negative result for the specific reaction (F. graminearum, F. oxysporum, F. chlamydosporum, F. sporotrichioides, F. equiseti and F. acuminatum) were isolated, and the expected fragment was amplified. We developed a rapid and reliable PCR-assay to detect potential nivalenol-producing F. poae isolates.