Home • Fusarium ventricosum NRRL 25729 v1.0
Left – tree showing phylogenetic relationships of the 23 Fusarium species complexes and placement of F. ventricosum within the F. ventricosum species complex. In the tree, species complex names are abbreviated using specific epithets of the species after which the complexes are named (e.g., the F. sambucinum species complex is abbreviated as sambucinum). Upper right – culture of F. ventricosum NRRL 25729 growing on potato dextrose agar medium. Lower right – karyotype of F. ventricosum NRRL 25729. Image credit: Robert H. Proctor, Amy McGovern and Crystal Probyn.
Left – tree showing phylogenetic relationships of the 23 Fusarium species complexes and placement of F. ventricosum within the F. ventricosum species complex. In the tree, species complex names are abbreviated using specific epithets of the species after which the complexes are named (e.g., the F. sambucinum species complex is abbreviated as sambucinum). Upper right – culture of F. ventricosum NRRL 25729 growing on potato dextrose agar medium. Lower right – karyotype of F. ventricosum NRRL 25729. Image credit: Robert H. Proctor, Amy McGovern and Crystal Probyn.

Fusarium (family Nectriaceae) is a species-rich fungal genus that poses a dual threat to agriculture because many species cause destructive crop diseases and/or contaminate infected crops with toxic secondary metabolites (mycotoxins) that are health hazards to humans and other animals. Some Fusarium mycotoxins are frequent contaminants of dried distillers’ grains, coproducts of grain-based ethanol production used as a protein-rich livestock feed. In addition, some species of Fusarium are pathogens of energy crops such as corn and sugar cane. Some species can also exist as endophytes in plants, including some bioenergy crops.

DNA-based phylogenetic analyses have resolved Fusarium into 23 multi-species lineages known as species complexes. Fusarium ventricosum is a member of the Fusarium ventricosum species complex, which is comprised of at least three phylogenetically distinct species. Interest in this species complex stems in part because it is one of the earliest diverging lineages of Fusarium. During its evolutionary diversification, Fusarium has undergone multiple chromosomal fusions. As a result, members of early diverging species complexes tend to have more chromosomes (15 – 20) than later diverging complexes (4 – 7). Despite its basal position in the Fusarium species tree, F. ventricosum has 11 chromosomes (Waalwijk et al. 2018). Strain NRRL 25729 (CBS 430.91) was isolated from a twig of a black locust tree (Robinia pseudo-acacia) growing in Germany.

Reference:
Geiser DM, Al-Hatmi A, Aoki et al. 2021. Phylogenomic analysis of a 55.1 kb 19-gene dataset resolves a monophyletic Fusarium that includes the Fusarium solani Species Complex. Phytopathology 111: 1064-1079.

Waalwijk C, Taga M, Zheng S-L, et al. 2018. Karyotype evolution in Fusarium. IMA Fungus 9:13-26. 10.5598/imafungus.2018.09.01.02