Modelling the relationship between environmental factors, transcriptional genes and deoxynivalenol mycotoxin production by strains of two Fusarium species

Abstract

The effect of changes in temperature/water activity ( a w ) on growth, deoxynivalenol (DON) production and trichothecene gene cluster expression (18 genes) for strains of Fusarium culmorum and Fusarium graminearum was studied. The expression data for six key transcription genes ( TRI4, TRI5 , TRI6, TRI10, TRI12 and TRI13 ) were analysed using multiple regression analyses to model the relationship between these various factors for the first time. Changes in a w and temperature significantly ( p = 0.05) affected growth and DON. Microarray data on expression of these genes were significantly related to DON production for both strains. Multi-regression analysis was done and polynomial models found to best fit the relationship between actual/predicted DON production relative to the expression of these TRI genes and environmental factors. This allowed prediction of the amounts of DON produced in two-dimensional contour maps to relate expression of these genes to either a w or temperature. These results suggest complex interactions between gene expression ( TRI genes), environmental factors and mycotoxin production. This is a powerful tool for understanding the role of these genes in relation to environmental factors and enables more effective targeted control strategies to be developed.