In North America, Fusarium head blight is caused
predominantly by Fusarium graminearum, a member of the F. sambucinum species
complex (FSAMSC). However, recent largescale surveys revealed that other
species in the FSAMSC and the F. tricinctum species complex (FTSC) have
emerged as pathogens of wheat and barley in some settings. Among toxins
produced by the FSAMSC, trichothecenes pose the most significant threat to
public health. However, some fusaria in the FTSC can produce other mycotoxins,
including enniatins (ENNs) and moniliformin (MON) which are also concern with
respect to food and feed safety. Herein we conducted large surveys of FSAMSC
and FTSC strains hosted in culture collections to evaluate their species
diversity, mycotoxin potential, and pathogenicity towards wheat. Maximum
likelihood (ML) analyses of a multilocus dataset revealed that the FSAMSC
encompasses indeed 74 genealogically exclusive species, including 33 novel,
distributed among six strongly supported clades: Sporotrichioides,
Graminearum, Novel, Sambucinum, Longipes, and Brachygibbosum.
Members of these clades produced type A, type B, or both types of
trichothecenes. Surprisingly, two novel species within the Sambucinum Clade
synthesized two new type A trichothecenes, 15-keto NX-2 and 15-keto NX-3. These
two species, with all members of the Graminearum Clade, were aggressive
toward heads of the susceptible cultivar Apogee. Other taxa within the FSAMSC
were nonpathogenic or infected only the inoculated floret. Altogether, these
data highlight that aggressiveness toward wheat appears to be toxin–dependent
and that it is not limited to F. graminearum and its close relatives. We
also elucidate that the phylogenetic, mycotoxigenic, and pathogenic diversity
of the FSAMSC and FTSC was underestimated, and their members uniformly produce
several emerging and neglected mycotoxins. Evolutionary relationships inferred
from a 5-locus sequence dataset resolved FTSC strains into 24 genealogically
phylogenetically distinct species, of which nine were novel. Nineteen of the
species were toxin-producing lineages that shared the same mycotoxin profile
characterized by a production of ENNs, MON, aurofusarin (AUR), and
2-amino-14,16-dimethyloctadecan-3-ol (AOD). Interestingly, five species in the
most basal clade of the FTSC phylogeny synthesized ENNs and/or AUR but did not
produce MON or AOD.