Mycotoxin production of selected Fusarium species at different culture conditions

The toxin producing capacity of seven Fusarium species (F. langsethiae, F. sporotrichioides, F. poae, F. avenaceum, F. tricinctum, F. graminearum and F. culmorum) and the effect of culture conditions on the toxin production were studied. The strains were isolated from Finnish grains and cultivated on a grain mixture at three different water activity/temperature combinations (i.e. 0.994/15 °C; 0.994/25 °C; 0.960/25 °C). The mycotoxins produced were analyzed with a multi-toxin method based on liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry enabling the simultaneous determination of 18 different Fusarium toxins. The general toxin profiles revealed F. langsethiae and F. sporotrichioides as producers of diacetoxyscirpenol, neosolaniol, HT-2 and T-2-toxins. F. sporotrichioides produced additionally beauvericin. In the F. poae cultures, only beauvericin was detected. F. avenaceum and F. tricinctum were capable of producing enniatins, moniliformin and antibiotic Y, and F. graminearum and F. culmorum produced zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and 3-acetyl deoxynivalenol. Differences existed in the quantitative toxin production between the individual strains representing the same species. Additionally, the culture conditions affected the range and amounts of toxins produced. In general, aw 0.994 and temperature of 15 °C favoured the type-A trichothecene production of F. langsethiae and F. sporotrichioides. The beauvericin production of F. sporotrichioides occurred more favourably at aw 0.960 and 25 °C. F. poae produced the highest concentrations of beauvericin under two different conditions, namely at aw 0.994/15 °C and aw 0.960/25 °C. None of the combinations particularly favoured toxin production of F. avenaceum, with all three toxins being produced extensively at all culture conditions. F. tricinctum produced enniatins most efficiently at aw 0.994/25 °C. The moniliformin production of both these two species occurred readily at aw 0.960/25 °C. F. culmorum and F. graminearum produced the highest concentrations and variety of mycotoxins at aw 0.960/25 °C. The results give valuable information on the toxigenicity of some important Fusarium species. Additionally, this is the first in-depth study to investigate the influence of environmental conditions on the toxin production by F. langsethiae, F. poae, F. avenaceum and F. tricinctum.