Researchers uncover new species of toxic fungi

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service recently discovered 33 new species of toxin-producing fungi, opening the door for research to combat a major scourge of the world’s food supply.

According to a peer-reviewed article, the fungus Fusarium is extremely complex and contains many plant pathogens and toxigenic species that endanger a wide range of economically important crops, the most common of which causes Fusarium head blight.

“The research team found 33 new species of fungi in the genus Fusarium that produce mycotoxins that are harmful to plant, animal and human health,” said Imane Laraba, lead author of the article and microbiologist at the Agricultural Research Service’s Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research unit in Peoria, Illinois. “Some of these fungi also cause severe symptoms of FHB, an economically important disease of cereal crops in the United States.”

While most of the fungi were isolated from infected plants, some were found in soil.

The new fungal species are being held at the Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research unit, which is part of the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research. The center hosts the Agricultural Research Service Culture Collection, one of the largest public collections of microbes -- bacteria, yeast and filamentous fungi -- in the world, with about 98,000 strains.