Fusarium graminearum is a causal organism of Fusarium head blight in cereals and maize. Although a few secondary metabolites produced by F. graminearum are considered disease virulence factors, many molecular products of biosynthetic gene clusters expressed by F. graminearum during infection and their associated role in the disease are unknown. In particular, the predicted meroterpenoid products of the biosynthetic gene cluster historically designated as "C16" are likely associated with pathogenicity. Presented here are the results of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing experiments disrupting the polyketide synthase and terpene synthase genes associated with the C16 biosynthetic gene cluster in F. graminearum. Culture medium screening experiments using transformant strains were profiled by UHPLC-HRMS and targeted MS2 experiments to confirm the associated secondary metabolite products of the C16 biosynthetic gene cluster as the decalin-containing diterpenoid pyrones, FDDP-D and FDDP-E. Both decalin-containing diterpenoid pyrones were confirmed to be produced in wheat heads challenged with F. graminearum in growth chamber trials. The extent to which the F. graminearum C16 biosynthetic gene cluster is dispersed within the genus Fusarium is discussed along with a proposed role of the FDDPs as pathogen virulence factors.
Keywords: CRISPR-Cas9; Fusarium Head Blight; Fusarium graminearum; gene editing; secondary metabolism; virulence factor; wheat pathogen.