Selection of Fusarium Trichothecene Toxin Genes for Molecular Detection Depends on TRI Gene Cluster Organization and Gene Function

Food security is a global concern. Fusarium are among the most economically important fungal pathogens because they are ubiquitous, disease management remains a challenge, they produce mycotoxins that affect food and feed safety, and trichothecene mycotoxin production can increase the pathogenicity of some Fusarium species depending on the host species. Although trichothecenes may differ in structure by their patterns of hydroxylation or acetylation, these small changes have a significant impact on toxicity and the biological activity of these compounds. Therefore, detecting and identifying which chemotype is present in a given population are important to predicting the specific toxins that may be produced and, therefore, to evaluating the risk of exposure. Due to the challenges of inducing trichothecene production by Fusarium isolates in vitro for subsequent chemical analysis, PCR assays using gene-specific primers, either singly or in combination, designed against specific genes of the trichothecene gene cluster of multiple species of Fusarium have been developed. The establishment of TRI genotypes that potentially correspond to a specific chemotype requires examination of an information and knowledge pipeline whose critical aspects in sequential order are: (i) understanding the TRI gene cluster organization which differs according to Fusarium species under study; (ii) knowledge of the re-arrangements to the core TRI gene cluster over evolutionary time, which also differs according to Fusarium species; (iii) the functions of the TRI genes in the biosynthesis of trichothecene analogs; and (iv) based on (i)–(iii), selection of appropriate target TRI gene(s) for primer design in PCR amplification for the Fusarium species under study. This review, therefore, explains this pipeline and its connection to utilizing TRI genotypes as a possible proxy to chemotype designation.