María Teresa González-Jaén

• Biology, PhD
• Professor at Complutense University of Madrid

The Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex (FIESC) is a phylogenetically rich complex. It includes more than 30 cryptic phylogenetic species, making morphological identification problematic. FIESC has previously been detected in Tunisian cereals, but knowledge on the phylogeny and the ecophysiology of their species is lacking. In this work a...

Background: Fusarium is a worldwide distributed fungal genus. It includes different species pathogenic to cereals among others crops. Some of these species can also produce toxic compounds towards animals and humans. Objective: In this work, occurrence of fumonisins B1+B2, zearalenone, type A trichothecenes (T-2 and HT-2 toxins) and type B trich...

The Aspergillus niger aggregate contains 15 morphologically indistinguishable species which presence is related to ochratoxin A (OTA) and fumonisin B 2 (FB 2 ) contamination of foodstuffs. The taxonomy of this group was recently reevaluated and there is a need of new studies regarding the risk that these species might pose to food security. 258 iso...

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is the main mycotoxin occurring in wine. This review article is focused on the distribution of this toxin and its producing-fungi in grape berries, as well as on the fate of OTA during winemaking procedures. Due to its toxic properties, OTA levels in wine are regulated in different countries; therefore, it is necessary to apply c...

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most important mycotoxins due to its toxic properties and worldwide distribution which is produced by several Aspergillus and Penicillium species. The knowledge of OTA biosynthetic genes and understanding of the mechanisms involved in their regulation are essential. In this work, we obtained a clear picture of biosy...

Fumonisins are important mycotoxins contaminating foods and feeds which are mainly produced by F. verticillioides and F. proliferatum. Additionally, both are pathogens of maize and other cereals. We describe two highly sensitive, rapid, and species-specific PCR protocols which enable detection and discrimination of these closely related species in...

Wheat, barley and maize are the mainly consumed cereals in Tunisia. This study aimed to determine the mycoflora of these cereals with special focus on the mycotoxigenic Aspergillus and Fusarium species. Freshly harvested samples and other stored samples of each type of cereal (31 and 34 samples, respectively) were collected in Tunisia and cultured...

The determination of aflatoxin production ability and differentiation of aflatoxigenic strains can be assessed by monitoring the expression of one or several key genes using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We herein describe the methods for RNA induction, extraction, and quality determination, and the RT-PCR conditions use...

Occurrence of aflatoxins AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2 and ochratoxin A (OTA) was studied in 65 samples of stored and freshly harvested wheat, barley and maize collected in Tunisia. The mycotoxins were simultaneously extracted and quantified by HPLC. Determination of AF-producing (section Flavi) and OTA-producing Aspergillus species (sections Nigri and Ci...

Fusarium graminearum sampled during 6 years in Luxembourg. Every year, at least 15 fields were sampled in different geographic locations in the country. Depending on the year, the species was more or less present. The NIV chemotype disappeared in the last 4 years of sampling in this species.

(A) Fusarium graminearum and (B) Fusarium culmorum chemotype distribution within each participating country in % of all samples analyzed (n). 3-ADON, 3-acetyldeoxyniavlenol; 15-ADON, 15-acetyldeoxyniavlenol; NIV, nivalenol.

Instruction to upload new dataset on the database and an output example for a given strain.

Template for participants of the original initiative.

Fusarium species, particularly Fusarium graminearum and F. culmorum, are the main cause of trichothecene type B contamination in cereals. Data on the distribution of Fusarium trichothecene genotypes in cereals in Europe are scattered in time and space. Furthermore, a common core set of related variables (sampling method, host cultivar, previous cro...

Fusarium equiseti es una especie toxígena que contamina diferentes especies de cereales, otras de interés agroalimentario (patata, tomate, cebolla, etc) y silvestres (herbáceas y arbóreas). Se extiende por distintas regiones climáticas, entre ellas el Norte y el Sur de Europa, que se corresponden con la presencia de dos poblaciones filogenéticament...

Fusarium equiseti es una especie toxígena que contamina diferentes especies de cereales, otras de interés agroalimentario (patata, tomate, cebolla, etc) y silvestres (herbáceas y arbóreas). Se extiende por distintas regiones climáticas, entre ellas el Norte y el Sur de Europa, que se corresponden con la presencia de dos poblaciones filogenéticament...

Mycotoxins are commonly found in food products and beverages and the exposition to these compounds can cause pathologies known as mycotoxicoses. The main mycotoxin-producing species are included in four genera: Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium and Alternaria. This article is focused on the main mycotoxins produced by these genera and their acute...

Background: Fusarium fujikuroi Nirenberg is a maize and rice pathogen causing important agricultural losses and produces fumonisins - mycotoxins which pose health risk to humans and farm animals. However, little information is available about the phylogenetics of this species and its ability to produce fumonisins in rice. We studied 32 strains iso...

Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium proliferatum are important phytopathogens which contaminate cereals in the Mediterranean climatic region with fumonisins. In this study we examined the interaction between the fungicide efficacy of tebuconazole and water potential (Ψw) (-0.7-7.0MPa)×temperature (20-35°C) on growth and FUM1 gene expression by re...

The intergenic spacer (IGS) region of the ribosomal DNA was cloned and sequenced in eight species within the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex with anamorphs in the genus Fusarium, a group that includes the most relevant toxigenic species. DNA sequence analyses revealed two categories of repeated elements: long repeats and short repeats of 125 a...

Fusarium is a globally distributed fungal genus that includes different species pathogenic to cereals among others crops. Some of these Fusarium species can also produce toxic compounds towards animals and humans. In this work, the presence of the most important Fusarium toxins was determined in barley seeds from Spain, sampled according to Europea...

Gibberella fujikuroi is composed of at least nine mating populations (MPs), corresponding to biological species and assigned letters (from A to I). Each MP possesses a specific toxicological profile and a preferential host. Members of Fusarium verticillioides and F. thapsinum, anamorphs respectively of MPs A (G. moniliformis) and F (G. thapsina), s...

Fumonisins are important mycotoxins which often contaminate several cereals such as maize, wheat or rice, although they can also occur in a wide variety of other commodities. Fumonisins are responsible of serious chronic and acute diseases in human and animals and their presence is under regulation in more than 100 countries. Fumonisin production i...

Fusarium proliferatum has been reported on garlic in the Northwest usa, spain and serbia, causing water-soaked tan-colored lesions on cloves. in this work, Fusarium proliferatum was isolated from 300 symptomatic garlic bulbs. Morphological identification of Fusarium was confirmed using species-specific PCR assays and EF-1α sequencing. Confirmation...

A phylogenic analysis of Fusarium proliferatum and closely related species was performed using the most variable part within the intergenic spacer of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (IGS) and compared with a previously reported phylogeny performed in the same group of samples with a partial region of the nuclear single copy gene encoding the elongation f...

A series of educational resources on 2D and 3D formats are described in this contribution, both applicable to the teaching of subjects related to biology and geology and for research in these areas. The 3D models were generated by three systems: the use of a 3D scanner, 3D photography and digital video camera, and 3D SketchUp and 3D MAX programs t...

Aspergillus westerdijkiae is one of the most relevant ochratoxin A (OTA) producing species within the Section Circumdati contaminating a number of agroproducts. The yeast Debaryomyces hansenii CYC 1244 was previously reported to be able to reduce growth and extracellular OTA produced by A. westerdijkiae. In this work, we examined several mechanisms...

The objective of this study was to gain information about the toxigenic Aspergillus species present in a wide survey of retail samples of paprika and chilli collected in Spain. Detection of these mycotoxigenic species was performed with an optimized protocol for paprika and chilli which includes a set of species-specific PCR assays. Occurrence of t...

Aspergillus flavus is an important fungal species that frequently contaminates food commodities with diverse toxins, with aflatoxins being the most relevant in food safety. In addition, this is one of the major pathogenic Aspergillus species. In this work, specific PCR-based protocol for this species is described which allows the discrimination of...

The r2 isolate of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis-lycopersici produced several pectic enzymes that differ in substrate preference, reaction mechanism, and action pattern. We detected three forms that have lyase activity, four forms with polygalacturonase activity and one form with pectinesterase activity. Lyases had an absolute requirement for cal...

Genetic control of polygalacturonase (PG) activity from Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici was analyzed on pectin and glucose cultures. One exopolygalacturonase from F. oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici was strongly induced, in stationary culture, when the fungus was grown on apple pectin, while on glucose no extracellular PG activity c...

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a highly toxigenic mycotoxin commonly present in a number of diverse agroproducts. Aspergillus Section Circumdati includes some of the most important OTA-producing species: Aspergillus ochraceus, Aspergillus elegans and the recently described Aspergillus steynii and Aspergillus westerdijkiae. In this work, OTA production by se...

Aflatoxins are important mycotoxins that represent a serious risk for human and animal health. These mycotoxins are mainly produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, two closely related species with different array of aflatoxins. In this work, two specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays were developed to detect and quantify both sp...

Paprika is an important food additive in many countries. Extensive data recently available indicate mycotoxin contamination, being Aspergillus species the most frequently isolated from the paprika samples. The rapid, specific and sensitive methods based on PCR represent useful tools to predict the risk of the most important mycotoxins and to assist...

The effects of ecophysiological factors, temperature and solute potential, on both the growth and the regulation of the fumonisin biosynthetic FUM1 gene were studied and compared in one isolate each of the two closely related fumonisin-producing and maize pathogens Fusarium verticillioides and Fusarium proliferatum. The effect of solute potential a...

The objective of this work was to study the effect of ecophysiological factors on trichothecene gene expression and growth in Fusarium graminearum. The effect of non-ionic solute water potentials and temperature was examined on in vitro mycelial growth rates and on expression of the TRI5 gene, involved in trichothecene biosynthesis, quantified by r...

Aspergillus parasiticus is one of the most important aflatoxin-producing species that contaminates foodstuffs and beverages for human consumption. In this work, a specific and highly sensitive PCR protocol was developed to detect A. parasiticus using primers designed on the multicopy internal transcribed region of the rDNA unit (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA...

Fusarium proliferatum is together with Fusarium verticillioides the main source of fumonisins, a health risk mycotoxin, contaminating agro-products. Contrary to F. verticillioides, it colonizes a wide range of host plants besides maize, such as wheat or barley among others, in particular in certain regions (Southern Europe). The phylogenetic study...

Fusarium species are worldwide causal agents of ear rot in cereals. Their toxigenic potential is a health risk for both humans and animals. In Argentina, most identification of these fungi has been based on morphological and cross-fertility criteria which are time consuming and require considerable expertise in Fusarium taxonomy and physiology. DNA...

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is one of the most important mycotoxins because of its high toxicity to both humans and animals and its occurrence in a number of basic foods and agro-products. Some of the main OTA-producing species belong to Aspergillus section Circumdati, whose taxonomy has been lately revised with the description of new species. The high morp...

Agroproducts contaminated by ochratoxin A (OTA) represent a risk for human and animal health and, therefore, maximum limits have been established by Food Safety Authorities. Reduction of OTA contamination may be accomplished by early detection of OTA-producing fungal species using rapid, specific and sensitive detection and quantification by PCR-ba...

Aspergillus ochraceus and A. westerdijkiae are considered the most important Ochratoxin A (OTA) producing species included in Aspergillus section Circumdati which contaminate foodstuffs and beverages for human consumption. In this work a real-time quantitative PCR protocol was developed to detect both species using SYBR Green and primers designed o...

Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici (FORL) causes an important disease in tomato characterized by cell wall degradation. The characterization of cell wall-degrading polygalacturonase enzymes and their regulation is crucial to gain knowledge on the role of these enzymes in pathogenesis. The objectives of this work were to perform an in sili...

Fusurium oxysporum f. sp. radicis lycopersi (FORL) is a tomato pathogen which produces several cell wall degrading enzymes during the process of colonisation. Among these enzymes, polygalacturonases (PGs) are important because of their role in deconstruction the plant cell wall during host plant infection. Production of PGs in heterologous systems...

Aspergillus ochraceus is one of the main contaminant of products such as coffee, grapes, cereals and derivatives. This filamentous fungus can also produce ochratoxin A (OTA), a secondary metabolite with nephrotoxic and carcinogenic properties. The maximum OTA limits allowed in flood and raw agroproducts are under legal regulation. Currently, biolog...

Aspergillus flavus is frequently found in food, producing a wide variety of toxins, aflatoxins being the most relevant in food safety. A specific PCR-based protocol for this species is described which allowed discrimination from other closely related species having different profiles of secondary metabolites from the Aspergillus Section Flavi, part...

One hundred and three Fusarium isolates from maize samples collected from different districts of Karnataka state, India, were analyzed with genus-specific, species-specific, and potential fumonisin specific oligonucleotide primers. One set of genus-specific primers ITS F and ITS R based on a highly conserved ITS region of the genus Fusarium were us...

The objective of this work was to study the effect of ecophysiological factors on fumonisin gene expression and growth in Fusarium verticillioides. The effects of ionic and nonionic solute water potentials, matric potential, and temperature on in vitro mycelial growth rates and on expression of the FUM1 gene, involved in fumonisin biosynthesis, wer...

Fumonisins are a group of mycotoxins that contaminate maize and related products and cause several animal and human diseases. Estimation of fumonisins production is expensive and labour consuming. In this work fum5, the key gene in the fumonisins pathway, has been used to develop a conventional PCR assay for specific detection of fumonisin-producin...

Penicillium brevicompactum is a ubiquitous fungal species that contaminates diverse substrates and commodities and produces an array of metabolites toxic to human and animals. The present work has obtained evidence, by liquid chromatography (LC)-ion-trap mass spectrometry, of the ability of P. brevicompactum strains isolated from grapes to produce...

Fumonisins are a group of mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex that contaminate food and feed products, and represent a risk for human and animal health. In this work, we have developed a specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay to quantify the level of expression of two genes of the...

Contamination of cereals with mycotoxigenic species of Fusarium is an important source of trichothecenes, fumonisins and other mycotoxins which cause serious diseases in human and animals. In addition, these species are phytopathogenic and produce severe losses in cereal yield. Methods for early detection of these Fusarium species are crucial to pr...

The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) is a ubiquitous group of proteins involved in the transport of a wide range of compounds, including toxins produced by fungal species. In this paper, a novel MFS encoding gene (Fusarium iron related gene or FIR1), which had shown an up-regulation in fumonisin-inducing conditions, has been identified and chara...

Relationship between heterozygosity at allozyme loci, chromosomal interchanges and fitness was analyzed in a rye cultivar showing a polymorphism for such rearrangements. Nine allozyme systems (ACO, ACPH, GOT, GPI, LAP, MDH, PER, PGD and PGM) and five components of fitness (number of fertile tillers, total offspring, egg cell fertility, flowers/ear...

In the present report, a total of 75 Fusarium spp isolates (35 of the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex, 26 of F. oxysporum, 7 of F. graminearum, 5 of F. culmorum, 1 of F. cerealis, and 1 of F. poae) from different hosts were characterized morphologically, physiologically and genetically. Morphological characterization was performed according to...

The contamination of cereals with mycotoxins produced by species ofFusarium is an important risk to human and animal health. The toxigenic profile is different depending on theFusarium species considered and, in some species, differences can also be observed at intraspecific level. Information about the distribution and variability of the mycotoxig...

In the present study, 44 Fusarium spp. isolates (5 Fusarium culmorum, 7 Fusarium graminearum, 1 Fusarium cerealis, 1 Fusarium poae, 26 Fusarium oxysporum, and 4 Gibberella fujikuroi species complex) were characterized morphologically, physiologically and genetically. All except one (Dutch Collection: CBS 620.72) were isolated from different hosts g...

Thirty-three Fusarium verticillioides strains from diverse origins and hosts have been analysed for fumonisin production and characterized in order (i) to detect the variability present in this species and (ii) to discriminate among isolates. The method used was a combination of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymo...

Two PCR assays have been developed to detect Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus ochraceus, considered the main sources of ochratoxin A (OTA) contaminating commodities, particularly grapes, coffee and derivatives, in warm climates. The species specific primers have been designed on the basis of ITS (internal transcribed spacers of rDNA units) s...

Contamination of small-grain cereals with the fungal species Fusarium graminearum, F. culmorum, F. poae, F. sporotrichioides and F. equiseti is an important source of trichothecenes, Zearalenone and other mycotoxins which cause serious diseases in human and animals. Additionally, these species contribute to Fusarium Head Blight, a disease which pro...

The development of advanced molecular diagnosis for the critical toxigenic Fusarium species is considered in this review. The specific topics discussed are (1) isolation of mating type genes of Gibberella complex, (2) molecular detection of Fusarium-producing fumonisins, (3) molecular detection of Fusarium-producing trichothecenes and enniatins. Pa...

Aspergillus species included in section Nigri are common in plant products and processed food, such as grapes, cereals, coffee and derivatives, particularly in warm and tropical climates. Two of these species, A. carbonarius and A. niger, are known to produce ochratoxin A (OTA), a potent nephrotoxin and carcinogenic to human (group 2B). Recognition...

The morphological variation, secondary metabolite profiles and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of PCR amplified intergenic spacer (IGS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) were studied in 27 isolates of Fusarium equiseti, 25 isolated from Norwegian cereals and 2 from soil obtained from the IBT culture collection (BioCentrum, Technical University...

The amplification by PCR of the Intergenic Spacer region (IGS) of rDNA followed by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis was evaluated as a potential method for the identification of Debaryomyces hansenii among other yeast species that frequently contaminate Intermediate-Moisture Foods (IMFs). For a first rapid differentiation at...

La contaminación de cereales con especies fúngicas productoras de toxinas es uno de los riesgos alimentarios más importantes. La prevención es una estrategia clave para evitar su entrada en la cadena alimentaria y supone la identificación y control de las especies productoras. Este estudio describe los niveles de contaminación fúngica en 98 muestra...

In the present report, a total of thirty-one isolates of Gibberella fujikuroi (Sawada) Wollenw. species complex of Fusarium (section Liseola) morphologically classified as F. moniliforme according to the taxonomy of Nelson, Toussoun and Marasas (1983) were analyzed for their ability to produce fumonisin B1 and fumonisin B2 by an optimized liquid ch...

Fusarium verticillioides is considered to be the main source of fumonisins, a group of toxins that contaminate commodities and result in chronic and acute diseases affecting humans and animals. The detection and control of this species is crucial to prevent fumonisins from entering the food chain. The objective of the present research was to develo...

Gibberella fujikuroi is composed of at least nine mating populations (MPs), corresponding to biological species and assigned letters (from A to I). Each MP possesses a specific toxicological profile and a preferential host. Members of Fusarium verticillioides and F. thapsinum, anamorphs respectively of MPs A (G. moniliformis) and F (G. thapsina), s...

Fusarium verticillioides is considered to be the main source of fumonisins, a group of toxins that contaminate commodities and result in chronic and acute diseases affecting humans and animals. The detection and control of this species is crucial to prevent fumonisins from entering the food chain. The objective of the present research was to develo...

Fusarium verticillioides(Gibberella moniliformis, Gibberella fujikuroi mating population A) is the main source of fumonisins, a group of toxins which contaminates commodities, causing chronic and acute diseases in humans and animals. Fumonisins are produced during colonisation and infection of host plants even when disease symptoms are not recognis...

Fusarium verticillioides(Gibberella moniliformis, G. fujikuroi mating population A) is an important pathogen of maize and produces several mycotoxins, including fumonisins, which cause diseases in humans and animals. The partial sequences of the IGS region (Intergenic Spacer of rDNA units) and the translation elongation factor EF-1 gene of a repres...

Fumonisins are important mycotoxins basically produced by strains from the Gibberella fujikuroi species complex (with anamorphs in Fusarium genus) which contaminate food and feed products representing a risk to human and animal health. In this work, we report for the first time the fumonisin production of Fusarium moniliforme Sheldon strains associ...

In this work, we report the isolation, characterization and expression pattern in in vitro cultures of an EXOPG encoding gene (pgx2), a novel EXOPG encoding gene of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici, responsible for foot crown and root rot disease in tomato plants. The gene was compared with other fungal polygalacturonases (PGs) previous...

Polygalacturonases (PGs) are important pectolytic enzymes produced by phytopathogenic fungi during the process of infection and colonistation of the host plants. In this work, PGs produced by isolates of seven Fusarium species associated to Pinus pinea have been analysed for: activity, isoform pattern observed by isoelectric focusing endo- or exo-m...

Polygalacturonase (PG) synthetized by Fusarium spp. is a polymorphic enzyme with complex isoform patterns influenced by culture conditions and which are variable at the intra- and inter-specific levels. The partial sequence of an endopolygalacturonase coding gene (endopg) has been analyzed in isolates of seven species of Fusarium, most of them asso...

En el presente trabajo se ha detectado la presencia de una enzima exopoligalacturonasa en raíces de plantas de tomate (Lycopersicon esculentum) infectadas por Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. radicis lycopersici (FORL). La detección se ha llevado a cabo mediante inmunoensayos con anticuerpos policlonales obtenidos frente a la enzima purificada a partir de...

We have reproduced in vitro aluminium toxicity on bean calli for the purpose of analyzing how gene expression is modified by aluminum ions (Al). We have used three different media. L3m with reduced Ca and Pi concentration and a pH of 5.7; L3m4, similar, but with a pH of 4.0; and L3m4Al with the same composition and pH as L3m4, but with Al salt (AlC...