Home • Fusarium nisikadoi NRRL 25179 v1.0
Left – tree showing phylogenetic relationships of the 23 Fusarium species complexes and placement of F. nisikadoi within the F. nisikadoi 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. nisikadoi NRRL 25179 growing on potato dextrose agar medium. Middle right – karyotype of F. nisikadoi strain NRRL 25203. Lower right – chemical structures of the mycotoxins beauvericin and moniliformin. [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. nisikadoi within the F. nisikadoi 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. nisikadoi NRRL 25179 growing on potato dextrose agar medium. Middle right – karyotype of F. nisikadoi strain NRRL 25203. Lower right – chemical structures of the mycotoxins beauvericin and moniliformin. [Image credit: Robert H. Proctor, Amy McGovern and Crystal Probyn]

Fusarium nisikadoi NRRL 25179

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 species are pathogens of energy crops such as corn and sugar cane. Fusarium mycotoxins are frequent contaminants of dried distillers’ grains, coproducts of grain-based ethanol production used as a protein-rich livestock feed. Some Fusarium species can also exist as endophytes in plants, including some bioenergy crops.

DNA-based phylogenetic analyses have resolved Fusarium into 23 multi-species lineages that are referred to as species complexes (Geiser et al. 2021). Fusarium nisikadoi is a member of the F. nisikadoi species complex, which consists of at least five phylogenetically distinct species: F. commune, F. gaditjirrii, F. lyarnte, F. miscanthi and F. nisikadoi. Interest in this complex stems in part from its intermediary position between the F. fujikuroi and F. oxysporum species complexes, which are among the most economically important Fusarium species complexes because of their ability to cause severe crop diseases and/or produce mycotoxins. 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 members of later diverging complexes (4 – 7). F. nisikadoi has an intermediate number (11) of chromosomes.

Isolates of F. nisikadoi are reported to produce the mycotoxin moniliformin but not the mycotoxins beauvericin and fumonisins (Leslie and Summerell 2006). Consistent with the production data, F. nisikadoi strain NRRL 25179 lacks the fumonisin biosynthetic gene cluster (Kim et al. 2020). However, the fungus has the two-gene cluster required for beauvericin production. Like some members of the F. fujikuroi species complex, F. nisikadoi NRRL 25179 has genes required for production of the plant hormones auxins, cytokinins and gibberellins. F. nisikadoi has been recovered from Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa), bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra var. henonis) and wheat (Tricticum aestivum) grown in Japan. Strain NRRL 25179 was isolated from a slime flux of bamboo.

References