Evolution of the profile of Fusarium species and associated mycoToxins in wheats under climate changes: understanding the present to anticipate the future – EvolTox

By combining field surveys and laboratory studies that will associate ecophysiological and interspecies competition studies with an evolutionary biology approach and modelling work, EvolTox will tackle the scientific and technical barriers that face the development of reliable multi-mycotoxins predictive models. To achieve its objective, EvolTox will be set around a multi-step approach and will 1) provide a picture of the evolution of the Fusarium species and mycotoxins profiles in France for the past 15 years, 2) evidence environmental key factors that shape the representativeness of toxigenic species, 3) increase the knowledge on the environmental factors that significantly impact the behavior of the species, alone or in competition, 4) estimate the adaptive potential of DON-producing species, 5) implement those results in integrative models for predicting mycotoxin contamination under climatic scenarios.

An unprecedented picture of the evolution of the Fusarium species community in France, together with the mycotoxin pattern associated over a long period of fifteen years will be set up. Key agro-climatic factors responsible for significant shifts in Fusarium profile will be identified.
Essential knowledge on ecophysiological behaviour for several toxigenic Fusarium species, alone or in competitive condition will be produced. For F. graminearum, genomic mutational dynamics under abiotic stresses will be investigated.
Integrative models including multiscale knowledge gathered in EvolTox (fields and lab) will be developed.

The EvolTox’s database as regards the adaptability and competition of major toxigenic fungi associated with wheats, combined with the development of new models of mycotoxin risk prediction will constitute a solid and comprehensive fund of scientific knowledge, which will benefit to the community involved in research initiatives that aim to delineate the future mycotoxin risk associated to crops affected by Fusarium head blight epidemics other than wheats, or to wheats cultivated in other climates.

1. Foulongne-Oriol et al. 2021. « Evolution of the profile of Fusarium species and associated mycoToxins in wheats under climate changes: understanding the present to anticipate the future». poster presentation at the European Fusarium Seminar, Ghent, Belgium. May 31/June 01, 2021.
2. Cabeza-Orcel et al., 2021, « Prédire les contaminations sur le blé ». Perspectives agricoles. 488, 66-68

In a context of climate change, assessing the evolution of the risk associated with the contamination of wheat with mycotoxins produced by fungal species belonging to the genus Fusarium is crucial to ensure the safety of future cereal-derived food products in France. EvolTox proposes to tackle this challenge and deliver the basal knowledge and its integration in models simulating the occurrence of fusariotoxins in wheat harvests in relation to various climatic contexts. EvolTox implements a two-scale approach, combining field survey and laboratory studies to feed models. First, the representativeness of the Fusarium species/toxins over a 15-years-period will be investigated in the light of climatic and/or agronomic factors to precise the drivers that shape their distribution . Second, EvolTox proposes to associate ecophysiological and interspecies competition studies with an evolutionary biology approach to increase the accuracy and completeness of the predictive models.