Poster

Chaofan Sun ^{1, 2}, James Gillespie ¹, and Zhao Jin ^{1, 2}
1. Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108, USA
2. Genomics, Phenomics, and Bioinformatics Program, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58108, USA
Presenter: Chaofan Sun, chaofan.sun@ndsu.edu
Corresponding Author: Zhao Jin, zhao.jin@ndsu.edu

Sun, Chaofan

chaofan.sun@ndsu.edu

Deoxynivalenol (DON), a major mycotoxin produced by Fusarium graminearum, poses significant challenges to cereal safety and quality. Plants can reduce DON toxicity through glucosylation to form DON-3-glucoside (D3G). Although this detoxification mechanism has been extensively studied in growing plants, little is known about how DON is transformed during cereal germination or whether further glucosylation occurs. To address this gap, this study investigated DON glucosylation in non-Fusarium-infected barley and wheat during germination following exogenous DON exposure. DON-free grains were exposed to four nominal DON levels (0, 2, 5, and 50 µg/g), and the resulting DON and D3G concentrations were quantified. D3G accumulation increased with increasing DON exposure in both cereals, demonstrating their capacity to glucosylate DON during germination. In wheat, D3G reached 8.35 µg/g dry weight at the highest DON treatment level, with a D3G/DON molar ratio of 123.1%. Beyond D3G formation, a higher-order DON conjugate was also detected and putatively identified as DON-diglucoside based on characteristic fragmentation patterns (m/z 619 → 457 in negative ion mode and m/z 621 → 459 → 297 in positive ion mode). Together, these findings suggest that DON glucosylation during cereal germination may extend beyond D3G formation to more complex glucoside conjugates, providing new insights into DON detoxification pathways and the fate of modified mycotoxins in cereals.

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