''Fusarium verticillioides'' is the most commonly reported fungal species infecting maize (''

Zea mays Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

''). ''Fusarium verticillioides'' is the accepted name of the species, which was also known as ''Fusarium moniliforme''. The species has also been described as mating population A of the ''Fusarium fujikuroi'' species complex (formally known as ''Gibberella fujikuroi'' species complex). ''F. verticllioides'' produces the

mutagen In genetics, a mutagen is a physical or chemical agent that permanently changes nucleic acid, genetic material, usually DNA, in an organism and thus increases the frequency of mutations above the natural background level. As many mutations can ca ...

ic chemical compound

fusarin C Fusarins are a class of mycotoxins produced mainly by fungi of the genus ''Fusarium'', which can infect agriculturally important crops such as wheat, barley, oats, rye, and corn. Chemically, they are polyketides that are also derived from amino aci ...

. ''F. verticillioides'' produces a group of disease-causing mycotoxins—

fumonisin The fumonisins are a group of mycotoxins derived from ''Fusarium'' and their Liseola section. They have strong structural similarity to sphinganine, the backbone precursor of sphingolipids. More specifically, it can refer to: * Fumonisin B1 * ...

s—on infected kernels.

Control

The growth of all strains of ''F. verticillioides'' is significantly inhibited by an

iodine Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid at standard conditions that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

-containing

fungistatic Fungistatics are anti-fungal agents that inhibit the growth of fungus (without killing the fungus). The term ''fungistatic'' may be used as both a noun and an adjective. Fungistatics have applications in agriculture, the food industry, the paint ind ...

(AJ1629-34EC) at concentrations that do not harm the crop. This might be a less toxic anti-fungal agricultural treatment due to its relatively natural chemistry.

References

Fungal plant pathogens and diseases verticillioides Fungi described in 1881 {{Hypocreales-stub