Fusarium

Taxobox | name = "Fusarium"

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Fusarium verticillioides"
regnum = Fungi
phylum = Ascomycota
classis = Sordariomycetes
ordo = Hypocreales
genus = "Fusarium"

"Fusarium" is a large genus of filamentous fungi widely distributed in soil and in association with plants. Most species are harmless saprobes and are relatively abundant members of the soil microbial community. Some species produce mycotoxins in cereal crops that can affect human and animal health if they enter the food chain. The main toxins produced by these "Fusarium" species are fumonisins and trichothecenes.

Pathogen

The genus includes a number of economically important plant pathogenic species.

"Fusarium graminearum" commonly infects barley if there is rain late in the season. It is of economic impact to the malting and brewing industries as well as feed barley. Fusarium contamination in barley can result in head blight and in extreme contaminations the barley can appear pink."Brewing Microbiology", 3rd edition. Priest and Campbell, ISBN 0-306-47288-0] The genome of this wheat and maize pathogen has been sequenced. "Fusarium graminearum" can also cause root rot and seedling blight. The total losses in the US of barley and wheat crops between 1991 and 1996 have been estimated at $3 billion.

"Fusarium" species is thought to cause the deadly white nose syndrome in bats, though it may be an opportunistic infection, rather than the actual cause of the condition

In humans

Some species may cause a range of opportunistic infections in humans. In humans with normal immune systems, fusarial infections may occur in the nails (onychomycosis) and in the cornea (keratomycosis or mycotic keratitis).cite book | author = Walsh TJ, Dixon DM | title = Spectrum of Mycoses. "In:" Baron's Medical Microbiology "(Baron S "et al", eds.)| edition = 4th ed. | publisher = Univ of Texas Medical Branch | year = 1996 | id = [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mmed.section.4006 (via NCBI Bookshelf)] ISBN 0-9631172-1-1 ] In humans whose immune systems are weakened in a particular way (neutropenia, i.e., very low count of the white blood cell type called neutrophils), aggressive fusarial infections penetrating the entire body and bloodstream (disseminated infections) may be caused by members of the "Fusarium solani" complex, "Fusarium oxysporum", "Fusarium verticillioides", "Fusarium proliferatum" and rarely other fusarial species.cite book | author = Howard DH | title = Pathogenic Fungi in Humans and Animals | edition = 2nd ed. | publisher = Marcel Dekker | year = 2003| id = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=my7KbbJi2b4C&dq=Marcel+Dekker+Howard+Fungi&psp=1 (via Google Books)] ISBN 0-8247-0683-8 ] The neutropenia in such cases is almost always the result of chemotherapy against certain kinds of leukemia or else heavy use of immunosuppressive drugs in problematic cases of major organ transplant surgery.

Fusarium fungus has been detected in food from smallscale producers in South Africa, where HIV infected people find it difficult to fight off the fungal attack with their immune system so badly compromised. Researchers from the Morogo Research Programme at South Africa's North-West University found nine types of toxic Fusarium fungi in food produced by smallscale producers. The fungi, found in maize and green vegetables in home gardens, can cause organ failure in HIV and immune-suppressed patients, according to research in the "South African Journal of Science". [Van der Walta, A.M. and M.I.M. Ibrahima, H.S. Steyn andC.C. Bezuidenhouta ["Fusarium populations in the household food gardens of a peri-urban community"] , "South African Journal of Science", 103, November-December 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2008.] this is not true.

Use as human food

Fusarium venenatum is produced industrially for use as a human food by Marlow Foods, Ltd., and is marketed under the name Quorn in Europe and North America.

Biological warfare

Mass casualties occurred in the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s when "Fusarium"-contaminated wheat flour was baked into bread, causing alimentary toxic aleukia with a 60% mortality rate. Symptoms began with abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, and prostration. Within days fever, chills, myalgias and bone marrow depression with granulocytopenia and secondary sepsis. Further symptoms included pharyngeal or laryngeal ulceration and diffuse bleeding into the skin (petechiae and ecchymoses), melena, bloody diarrhea, hematuria, hematemesis, epistaxis, vaginal bleeding, Pancytopenia and gastrointestinal ulceration. "Fusarium sporotrichoides" contamination was found in affected grain in 1932, spurring research for medical purposes and for use in biological warfare. The active ingredient was found to be trichothecene T-2 mycotoxin, and was produced in quantity and weaponized prior to the passage of the Biological Weapons Convention in 1972. The Soviets were accused of using the agent, dubbed "yellow rain", to cause 6,300 deaths in Laos, Kampuchea, and Afghanistan between 1975 and 1981. [cite web|url=http://www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/issue9/bu0024.pdf|title=Toxic effects of mycotoxins in humans|date=1999-09-01|author=World Health Organization|accessdate=2007-05-27] [cite web|url=http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/Mycoherbicide06.pdf|title=Repeating mistakes of the past: another mycoherbicide research bill|author=Drug Policy Alliance|date=2006|accessdate=2007-05-27] The supposed biological warfare agent was later shown to be bee feces. [Yellow rain: Thai bees' faeces found. Nature 1984 PMID 6709055] [Yellow rain evidence slowly whittled away. Science 1986 PMID 3715471]

Following an outbreak of "Fusarium oxysporum" that affected coca plantations in Peru, and other crops planted in the area, the United States has proposed the use of the agent as a mycoherbicide in drug eradication. In 2000, a proposal was passed to use the agent as part of Plan Colombia. In response to concerns that use of the fungus could be perceived as biological warfare, the Clinton Administration "waived" this use of "Fusarium". A subsequent law passed in 2006 has mandated the testing of mycoherbicide agents - either "Fusarium oxysporum" or "Pleospora papaveracea" - in field trials in U.S. territory.cite web|url=http://www.tni.org/docs/200705111419584743.pdf|title=Evaluating Mycoherbicides for Illicit Drug Crop Control: Rigorous Scientific Scrutiny is Crucial] Use of "Fusarium oxysporum" for these tests has raised concerns because resistant coca from the previous outbreak has been widely cultivated, and the fungus has been implicated in the birth of 31 anencephalic children in the Rio Grande region of Texas in 1991Fact|date=January 2008, the loss of palm trees in Los Angeles, and eye infections from contact lens solutions [cite journal |author=Imamura Y, Chandra J, Mukherjee PK, Lattif AA, Szczotka-Flynn LB, Pearlman E, Lass JH, O'Donnell K, Ghannoum MA |title=Fusarium and Candida albicans Biofilms on Soft Contact Lenses: Model Development, Influence of Lens Type, and Susceptibility to Lens Care Solutions |journal=Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=171–182 |year=2008 |pmid=17999966 |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17999966 |doi=10.1128/AAC.00387-07] . The alternative "Pleospora papaveracea" is less well-known; despite decades of study in the Soviet biowarfare lab in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the relevant mycotoxins reportedly have not yet been isolated, named, or studied.

ee also

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References

External links

* [http://www.doctorfungus.org/thefungi/fusarium.htm Doctor Fungus]
* [http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/3000/3122.html "Fusarium" and "Verticillium" Wilts of Tomato, Potato, Pepper, and Eggplant]
* [http://www.bugwood.org/container/fusarium.html "Fusarium" Root Rot in Container Tree Nurseries]
* [http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/fusarium.html "Fusarium" Blight on Turfgrass]
* [http://paridss.usask.ca/specialcrop/pulse_diseases/pea/fusarium.html Pea "Fusarium" Wilt]
* [http://www.extento.hawaii.edu/kbase/crop/Type/f_oxys.htm "Fusarium" oxysporum]
* [http://www.logicalimages.com/resourcesFusariumKeratitis.htm "Fusarium" Keratitis]
* [http://www.fusarium-news.com Latest News on "Fusarium" Eye Fungus Contact Lens Infections]