About the Fusarium verticillioides genome

Fusarium verticillioides is a fungal plant pathogen. It causes a disease in rice called bakanae, which is Japanese and means "foolish seedlings". The afflicted plants are at best infertile with empty panicles, producing no edible grains; at worst, they are incapable of supporting their own weight, topple over, and die (hence "foolish seedling").

The earliest known report of bakanae is from 1828. Bakanae affects rice crops in Asia, Africa, and North America; in 2003, the International Rice Research Institute estimated bakanae-related crop losses at between 20% and 50%.

Fusarium verticillioides is the causal agent of kernel and ear rot of maize. This destructive disease occurs virtually everywhere that maize is grown worldwide. In years with high temperatures, drought, and heavy insect damage, the disease can significantly diminish crop quality.

The most significant economic impact of Fusarium verticillioides is its ability to produce fumonisin mycotoxins. Various diseases caused by fumonisins have been reported in animals, such as liver and kidney cancer. In 2003, fumonisin B1, the fumonisin produced most abundantly by Gibberella moniliformis, was added to the California Proposition 65 List of Substances Known to Cause Cancer.

Fusarium verticillioides is also known as Gibberella moniliformis, a name by which it was previously known in Ensembl Fungi, and is also known under many other names. The genus Fusarium collectively represents the most important group of fungal plant pathogens, causing various diseases on nearly every economically important plant species. Of equal concern is the health hazard posed to humans and livestock by the plethora of Fusarium mycotoxins. Besides their economic importance, species of Fusarium also serve as key model organisms for biological and evolutionary research.

In humans with normal immune systems, fusarial infections may occur in the nails and in the eye. In humans whose immune systems are weakened in a particular way, aggressive fusarial infections penetrating the entire body and bloodstream may be caused by members of the Fusarium solani complex, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium verticillioides, Fusarium proliferatum and, rarely, other fusarial species.

Picture credit: CDC/Dr. Libero Ajello (PHIL #4011), 1978

Taxonomy ID 334819

Data source Broad Institute

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