Pyrofus a metabarcoding tool targeting the EF1 alpha region to assess Fusarium diversity on cereals

The PYROFUS project proposes to develop and validate a prototype of an innovative tool for the detection and fine identification Fusarium spp. involved in wheat ear disease by metabarcoding approches.Fusarium head blight is a cereal disease that is particularly monitored in the context of French epidemiosurveillance system, causing a drop in yield and quality grain. The fungi involved also pose a health risk because some Fusarium species are capable of producing mycotoxins, which accumulate in the grain and are transmitted along the processing chain. Currently, the epidemiological surveillance network bases its monitoring of fusariosis in plots on observations of symptoms in the field. However, combining visually a symptom to one or more Fusarium species, even among the major ones, remains difficult if not impossible. The PYROFUS project proposes to develop an innovative tool, based on the high though put sequencing technics , which will allow the detection and exhaustive identification of mycotoxinogenic fungi of the genus Fusarium. The project was structured in 3 main axes (i)development of the diagnostic tool on Mock samples composed of DNA from Fusarium and non Fusarium species(ii) validation of the reproducibility and sensibility of the tool on wheat samples containing known amount of infected grains(iii) assessment of the potential of the tool on field samples and on other cereals susceptible to fusariosis (triticale, corn, barley, etc.)