Fusarium graminearum grown in vitro and challenged with F. avenaceum filtrate leads to the strong induction of a F. graminearum ABC transporter.

To study the impact of Fusarium interactions, we chose F. graminearum and F. avenaceum, which are known to co-contaminate Canadian durum wheat samples resulting in the deposition of trichothecenes, enniatins, moniliformin, and other bioactive compounds.

We are studying the interaction of a F. graminearum (3-ADON-producer) and a F. avenaceum strain (both isolated from the same wheat sample) in durum wheat spikes. To study the impact of F. avenaceum secondary metabolites on F. graminearum, we conducted transcriptomic profiling of F. graminearum grown in the presence of F. avenaceum culture filtrate extracts in vitro. A F. graminearum ABC transporter gene was strongly induced in vitro upon exposure to F. avenaceum culture filtrate.