Real-time PCR for quantification of eleven individual Fusarium species in cereals.

Contamination of cereals with Fusarium species is one of the major sources of mycotoxins in food and feed. Quantification of biomass of Fusarium species is essential to understand the interactions of individual species in disease development. In this study quantitative real-time PCR assays based on the elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1alpha) gene for the 11 Fusarium species F. graminearum, F. culmorum, F. poae, F. langsethiae, F. sporotrichioides, F. equiseti, F. tricinctum, F. avenaceum, F. verticillioides, F. subglutinans and F. proliferatum were developed and tested on 24 wheat and 24 maize field samples. The assays were found to be specific and sensitive. Generally, the results from the quantitative real-time PCR assays corresponded well with mycotoxin data of the field samples.