Abstract
The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears, contaminating the grain with mycotoxins, including fumonisins. This global public health threat can be managed by breeding maize varieties that are resistant to colonization by F. verticillioides and by sorting grain after harvest to reduce fumonisin levels in food systems. Here, we employed two F. verticillioides inoculation techniques representing distinct infection pathways to dissect ear symptomatology and morphological resistance mechanisms in a diverse panel of maize inbred lines. The "point" method involved penetrating the ear with a spore-coated toothpick and the "inundative" method introduced a liquid spore suspension under the husk of the ear. We evaluated quantitative and qualitative indicators of external and internal symptom severity as low-cost proxies for fumonisin contamination, and found that kernel bulk density was predictive of fumonisin levels (78 to 84% sensitivity; 97 to 99% specificity). Inundative inoculation resulted in greater disease severity and fumonisin contamination than point inoculation. We also found that the two inoculation methods implicated different ear tissues in defense, with cob morphology being a more important component of resistance under point inoculation. Across both inoculation methods, traits related to cob size were positively associated with disease severity and fumonisin content. Our work demonstrates that (i) the use of diverse modes of inoculation is necessary for combining complementary mechanisms of genetic resistance, (ii) kernel bulk density can be used effectively as a proxy for fumonisin levels, and (iii) trade-offs may exist between yield potential and resistance to fumonisin contamination.
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Claims 8
Claim · model-written summary
Kernel bulk density had 78 to 84% sensitivity for predicting fumonisin levels.
Zea maysOrganisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e1“kernel bulk density was predictive of fumonisin levels (78 to 84% sensitivity; 97 to 99% specificity)”
Claim · model-written summary
Kernel bulk density had 97 to 99% specificity for predicting fumonisin levels.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e1“kernel bulk density was predictive of fumonisin levels (78 to 84% sensitivity; 97 to 99% specificity)”
Claim · model-written summary
Inundative inoculation resulted in greater disease severity and fumonisin contamination than point inoculation.
- Treatment
- Inundative inoculatione2
- Interactor
- Fusarium verticillioides
Fusarium verticillioidese0pathogen - Outcome
- disease severity and fumonisin contaminatione2
- Direction
- greatere2
- Comparator
- point inoculatione2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e2“Inundative inoculation resulted in greater disease severity and fumonisin contamination than point inoculation”
Claim · model-written summary
The two inoculation methods implicated different ear tissues in defense.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e3“the two inoculation methods implicated different ear tissues in defense”
Claim · model-written summary
Cob morphology was a more important component of resistance under point inoculation.
- Organ / stage
- cob morphologye4
- Treatment
- point inoculatione4
- Outcome
- component of resistancee4
- Direction
- more importante4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e4“with cob morphology being a more important component of resistance under point inoculation”
Claim · model-written summary
Traits related to cob size were positively associated with disease severity and fumonisin content across both inoculation methods.
- Organ / stage
- cob sizee5
- Outcome
- disease severity and fumonisin contente5
- Direction
- positively associatede5
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e5“Across both inoculation methods, traits related to cob size were positively associated with disease severity and fumonisin content”
Claim · model-written summary
Diverse modes of inoculation are necessary for combining complementary mechanisms of genetic resistance in maize.
- Treatment
- diverse modes of inoculatione6
- Outcome
- combining complementary mechanisms of genetic resistancee6
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e6“the use of diverse modes of inoculation is necessary for combining complementary mechanisms of genetic resistance”
Claim · model-written summary
Trade-offs may exist between yield potential and resistance to fumonisin contamination in maize.
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The fungus Fusarium verticillioides can infect maize ears”
e7“trade-offs may exist between yield potential and resistance to fumonisin contamination”
The same questions in other papers
inoculation · Fusarium verticillioides · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
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