title: Giberella fujikuroi species complex isolated from maize and wheat in Iran: distribution, molecular identification and fumonisin B1 in vitro biosynthesis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Contamination of food and agricultural crops by Fusarium species is a major concern of food spoilage and a potential public health hazard. In the present study, natural contamination of maize and wheat samples from main cultivation areas of Iran by Fusarium species belonging to the Giberella fujikuroi species complex was evaluated, with special attention to the ability of the isolates to produce fumonisin B1 (FB1 ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 55 Fusarium isolates were obtained from 27/32 maize samples (84.4%) and 11/15 wheat samples (73.3%). They were identified as F. verticillioides (47.3%), F. proliferatum (47.3%), F. fujikuroi (1.8%), F. nygamai (1.8%) and F. redolens (1.8%) by sequence analysis of translation elongation factor 1-α (TEF1-α). Twenty-two of 55 Fusarium isolates belonging to F. proliferatum (23.6%), F. verticillioides (14.5%) and F. fujikuroi (1.8%) produced FB1 in the concentration range 230.4-9565.0 µg mL(-1) . The dendrogram resulting from the TEF1-α profile showed that the genotypes were divided into clusters I, II and III, of which cluster III contained only F. redolens, its first report from Iran.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  On the basis of in vitro FB1 biosynthesis of the analyzed strains, the high degree of contamination of maize and wheat with Fusarium strains reported here should be considered as a potential public health threat, because a meaningful number of the isolates were found to produce hazardous levels of carcinogenic FB1 .
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 14115-331, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdelnasser
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 14115-331, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoomeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shams-Ghahfarokhi
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Agriculture, Agronomy and Plant Breeding Group, Lorestan University, PO Box 465, Khorramabad, Iran.
authors.forename: Farhad
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nazarian-Firouzabadi
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kachuei
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, 13164, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammadhassan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gholami-Shabani
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, 13164, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Razzaghi-Abyaneh
mesh_terms: D002274:Carcinogens, Environmental; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D005516:Food Microbiology; D037341:Fumonisins / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D005670:Fusarium / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005874:Gibberella / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007492:Iran; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1 / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D014908:Triticum / Q000382:microbiology*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D002274:Carcinogens, Environmental; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D037341:Fumonisins; D020648:Peptide Elongation Factor 1; C056933:fumonisin B1
keywords: Giberella fujikuroi species complex; TEF1-α gene; food contamination; fumonisin B1; maize; wheat