AUTHOR=Satterlee Timothy R. , Williams Felicia N. , Nadal Marina , Glenn Anthony E. , Lofton Lily W. , Duke Mary V. , Scheffler Brian E. , Gold Scott E. 

TITLE=Transcriptomic Response of Fusarium verticillioides to Variably Inhibitory Environmental Isolates of Streptomyces

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Fungal Biology

VOLUME=3

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/fungal-biology/articles/10.3389/ffunb.2022.894590

DOI=10.3389/ffunb.2022.894590

ISSN=2673-6128

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Fusarium verticillioides</italic> is a mycotoxigenic fungus that is a threat to food and feed safety due to its common infection of maize, a global staple crop. A proposed strategy to combat this threat is the use of biological control bacteria that can inhibit the fungus and reduce mycotoxin contamination. In this study, the effect of multiple environmental isolates of <italic>Streptomyces</italic> on <italic>F. verticillioides</italic> was examined <italic>via</italic> transcriptome analysis. The <italic>Streptomyces</italic> strains ranged from inducing no visible response to dramatic growth inhibition. Transcriptionally, <italic>F. verticillioides</italic> responded proportionally to strain inhibition with either little to no transcript changes to thousands of genes being differentially expressed. Expression changes in multiple <italic>F. verticillioides</italic> putative secondary metabolite gene clusters was observed. Interestingly, genes involved in the fusaric acid gene cluster were suppressed by inhibitory strains of <italic>Streptomyces.</italic> A <italic>F. verticillioides</italic> beta-lactamase encoding gene (FVEG_13172) was found to be highly induced by specific inhibitory <italic>Streptomyces</italic> strains and its deletion increased visible response to those strains. This study demonstrates that <italic>F. verticillioides</italic> does not have an all or nothing response to bacteria it encounters but rather a measured response that is strain specific and proportional to the strength of inhibition.</p>