This gene codes for an enzyme that protects the fungus from its own deadly tricothecene toxin, T-2, which the fungus uses in its attacks on certain plants. T-2 is not a problem in U.S. crops. But it resembles the scab-fungi toxin, called the DON vomitoxin, that can devastate U.S. wheat and barley. Information obtained by studying either fungus could lead to strategies for deactivating the fungus that causes scab in U.S. wheat and barley. Scientists placed all the genes from F. sporotrichioides into a collection of yeasts.
Researchers believe a gene-produced enzyme coats the toxin, making it safe for the cell.
Outside the cell, T-2 regains its potency. The Cereal Disease Laboratory at St. Paul, MN, is stepping up its efforts to find new ways to combat a fungus that damaged wheat and other cereal grains. New funding will enable the lab to purchase equipment and hire two scientists to study the fungus Fusarium graminearum , the culprit behind head scab. The lab specializes in research on fungal diseases that attack cereal grains such as wheat, barley, oats and rye. Since 1991, head scab has caused millions of dollars in lost yields each year in the Great Plains and Midwest.