First results of GEN-AU: Cloning of Deoxynivalenol- and Zearalenone-inactivating UDP-glucosyltransferase genes fromArabidopsis thaliana and expression in yeast for production of mycotoxin-glucosides.

First results of the GEN-AU pilot project "Fusarium virulence and plant resistance mechanisms" are reported. Employing genetically engineered yeast strains we have been able to clone genes from the model plantArabidopsis thaliana encoding UDP-glucosyltransferases which can inactivate deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZON). The structure of the metabolites produced by the transformed yeast strains were determined by LC-MS/MS as DON-3O-glucoside and ZON-4O-glucoside, respectively. ZON and derivatives added to glucosyltransferase expressing yeast cultures are converted into the corresponding glucosides in very high yield, opening an efficient way to produce reference materials for these masked mycotoxins.