Fusarium Antigen ELISA Kit

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by plant pathogenic fungi that are harmful to plants. They are mainly produced by fungi such as Fusarium spp., Alternaria spp., Aspergillus spp., and Penicillium spp. Some of these mycotoxins can seriously threaten the health of humans and animals. Ingestion of mycotoxins can cause acute or chronic poisoning, intestinal, liver, kidney toxicity, reproductive toxicity, immunotoxicity, cytotoxicity, and carcinogenicity. Fusarium fungi can infect more than 100 plants including wheat, cotton, rice, tomatoes, bananas, eggplants, etc., and are one of the most important plant pathogens in the world. At present, the research on the pathogenic mechanism of Fusarium mainly focuses on the destruction of plant cell structure and secretion of pathogenic toxins. The former is mainly that the pathogen colonizes in large numbers in the plant vascular bundle, destroys the function of the vascular bundle, and produces various cell wall degrading enzymes (such as cellulase, pectinase, β-glucosidase), and uses its degradation products (pectin or callose and other substances) to block the plant vascular bundle, causing water and nutrient deficiency, leading to plant wilting and death; the latter secretes toxins, which are one of the key pathogenic factors of Fusarium in the process of infecting plants, can promote the invasion of pathogens and reduce the host's defense ability. When the pathogen invades the plant, the toxin concentration continues to increase, causing changes in the plant cell structure and external morphology, resulting in a further decrease in the plant's defense ability and accelerating the infection of the pathogen.

Figure 1. Fusarium lumajangense. (Sources: Maryani N, et al. 2019)

Fusarium fungi can infect a variety of crops, reducing crop yield and quality. Fusarium toxins are toxic and harmful secondary metabolites (SMs) synthesized by Fusarium, which play an important role in the infection process. Common Fusarium toxins mainly include trichothecenes (groups A and B), zearalenone (ZEN), beauvericin (BEA) and enniatins (ENNs). Trichothecenes group A toxins mainly include T-2 and HT-2 toxins, which are highly toxic. Group B toxins are mainly deoxynivalenol (DON) and its acetylated derivatives, which are one of the most widely contaminated Fusarium toxins in food crops. Similar to other SMs, the synthesis of Fusarium toxins is regulated by multiple factors, such as oxidative stress, nutritional stress, light stress and other environmental factors (pH, temperature, water activity, fungicides and plant SMs), all of which have a regulatory effect on toxin synthesis. Pathogens synthesize Fusarium toxins to cope with the stress of reactive oxygen species during infection, among which DON is an important pathogenic factor. In addition to being phytotoxic, it also affects the plant's defense response and is a weapon for pathogens to infect and spread.

Fusarium head blight and Fusarium root rot caused by Fusarium are important fungal diseases that threaten the safe production of many crops, which can cause grain production reduction and grain quality degradation. Grains infected with Fusarium in the field can also cause grain deterioration and secondary toxin contamination during storage. During the infection process, Fusarium resists the host's defense response by forming infection structures, synthesizing CWDEs and Fusarium toxins, and then destroys plant tissues to complete the infection process. Whether Fusarium can adhere to the host and penetrate the stomata to colonize is the key to successful infection. During the infection process, the pathogen synthesizes a variety of CWDEs, such as cellulase, pectinase, xylanase, etc., to destroy the host's cell wall structure to help it complete colonization and infection. When Fusarium cul⁃morum infects wheat ears, the CWDEs produced cause the local cell wall of the host to soften and relax and gradually degrade, which helps the pathogen invade and absorb nutrients. Group B fumonisins (FBs) produced by Fusarium and AAL toxins produced by Alternaria spp. are sphingolipid analogs that can competitively bind to ceramide synthase, causing excessive accumulation of sphingosine in the cell body, thereby causing loss of membrane function and cell lysis, helping the pathogens to successfully colonize at the infection site.

Fusarium spp.
Fusarium fungus
Fusarium species