Mycol. Res. 99 (3). 282-286 (1995) Printed in Great Britain 282 Beauvericin production by Fusarium subglutinans from different geographical areas A. MORETTI1, A. LOGRIECO1*, A. BOTTALIC02, A. RITIEN13, G. R A N D A Z Z 0 3 AND P. CORDAZ l lstituto Tossine e Micotossine da Parassiti Vegetali, CNR, 70125 Bari, Italy Istituto di Patologia Vegetale, Uniuersita degli Studi, 07100 Sassari, Italy 1stituto Industrie Agrarie, Uniuersita degli Studi di Napoli, Federico 11, 80055 Portici, Italy The capability of sixty-five F. subglutinans, mostly from maize, isolates to produce beauvericin (BEA) was evaluated. Strains from various geographic areas were cultured on autoclaved corn kemels for 4 weeks at 25 OC. The number of BEA producers/number of tested strains from maize per country was: Poland, 22/26; Canada, 10/12; Argentina, 017; Austria, 414; Italy, 014; South Africa 313; United States, 012. BEA was produced by thirty-nine strains From maize in amounts up to 200 mg of toxin kg-' dry culture. In addition, BEA was produced by four strains from wheat in Poland (From 20 to 200 mg kg-'), by one strain From oat in Poland (30 mg kg-'), whereas no BEA was produced by one strain from Polish barley. Four strains reported as toxic towards animals were also able to produce BEA. In particular, strains M-1351, M-811, M-1168 from maize in South-Africa and strain M-1354 from Haemanthus spp. in Germany produced BEA in amounts from 20 to 100 mg kg-'. This is the first report of BEA produced by strains of F. subglutinans which caused toxicity to experimental animals. In addition these findings indicate that most F. subglutinans strains, widespread on corn in several geographic areas, have the potential for producing BEA. Fxsarium subglutinans (Wollenw. & Reinking) Nelson, 1984; Joffe, 1986), and proved to be toxic towards animals Toussoun & Marasas [teleomorph Gibberella subglufinans (Kriek et al., 1977; Rabie et al., 1 9 8 2 ; Abbas et al., 1984; (Edwards) P. E. Nelson, Toussoun & Marasas] is a common Marasas et al., 1984; Joffe, 1986). In addition, F. subglufinans species infecting cereals, particularly maize (Zea mays L.), on was isolated, together with F. moniliforme J. Sheld., from maize which it causes stalk and ear rot mostly in temperate areas ear rot associated with some mycotoxicoses, such as human (Marasas ef al., 1979; Logrieco ef al., 1993a). Certain strains of oesophageal cancer in South Africa (Marasas et al., 1981), F. subglufinans have been found to be toxigenic (Marasas et al., cattle neurotoxicity in Argentina (Faifer et al., 1992), and equine leucoencephalomalacia in Mexico (Barcenas-Guevara et al., 1992). Recently, investigations on toxic metabolites produced by strains of F. subglufinans from maize ear rot in Peru (Logrieco et al., 1993a) and Poland (Logrieco ef al., 1993 b) led to the identification of a cyclodepsipeptide, the beauvericin (BEA) (Fig. 1). Successively, BEA was found in F. subgiutinans naturally infected maize ears (Logrieco et al., 1993 b). Although the toxic activity of BEA was mostly investigated by insect bioassays (Vey ef al., 1973; Grove & Pople, 1980), recent reports showed also a high toxicity towards murine (Ojcious ef al., 1991) and human (Di Paola et al., 1994) cell lines. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the capability of BEA production by worldwide distributed strains of F. subglutinans isolated from plants, including some strains reported as toxic towards ducklings and rabbits (Marasas et al., 1984). MATERIALS AND METHODS Fig. 1. Chemical structure of beauvericin. Fungal strains Corresponding author. Sixty-one F. subglufinans strains from different hosts (fifty-five Presented at the VII International Fusariurn Workshop, July 19-23, 1993. from maize, four from wheat, one from oat, One from barley),