Ustiloxins are cyclopeptide mycotoxins isolated from rice false smut balls (FSBs), the ball-like colonies transformed from the individual grains through the filament infection by the fungal pathogen Villosiclava virens. There were no obvious relations between ustiloxin content and any of the collection areas, collection times, or average weight of each FSB. The rice false smut balls at early, middle, and late maturity stages were respectively divided into different parts (glume, chlamydospores, mycelia, and pseudoparenchyma). The highest content of ustiloxins A and B of rice FSBs was found at the early maturity stage. Both ustiloxins A and B were mainly distributed in the middle layer containing mycelia and immature chlamydospores of the FSBs. When the rice FSBs were at the early maturity stage, the total yield of ustiloxins A and B in the middle layer of each ball was 48.3 µg, which was 3.20-fold of the yield (15.1 µg) of the inner part of the ball. The rice FSBs at the early maturity stage are the appropriate materials for the production of ustiloxins A and B.
Keywords: HPLC analysis; Ustilaginoidea virens; Villosiclava virens; mycotoxin; rice false smut balls; rice false smut disease; ustiloxins.