Abstract
Trichothecenes are mycotoxins produced by various species of fungi, including Fusarium species. They contaminate important crops such as wheat and corn, and cause toxicity in animals and humans mainly by inhibition of protein synthesis. In this study, we performed genome-wide screening of genes that play roles in protection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae against A-type trichothecene, T-2 toxin, and D-type trichothecene, verrucarin A. Although a distinct difference exists in the structures of these two trichothecenes, these toxins inhibited the growth of the mutant strains of S. cerevisiae with common disrupted genes. The genes whose deletion conferred high sensitivity to these trichothecenes were considered as trichothecene resistance genes, and they included the ones encoding ABC transporter protein, enzymes for ergosterol biosynthesis, vacuolar H+-ATPase, and others. These results possibly lead to the construction of a yeast detection system with improved sensitivity to trichothecenes.
