Antifungal activities of a novel triazole fungicide, mefentrifluconazole, against the major maize pathogen Fusarium verticillioides

Fusarium ear rot (FER) is a serious fungal disease occurring the late growth stage of maize. FER not only reduces the yield of maize but also causes mycotoxin contamination, which affects the quality of maize and threatens human and animal health. Fusarium verticillioides is the predominant causative pathogen of FER worldwide. At present, there is no registered fungicide for use against maize FER in China. The novel isopropyl alcohol-triazole fungicide mefentrifluconazole (MFZ) has been shown to be effective against several Fusarium spp., but little is known about its specific activity against F. verticillioides. MFZ exhibited strong antifungal activities against 50 strains of F. verticillioides collected from the major maize-growing areas in China. MFZ inhibited mycelial growth, conidium production, germination and germ tube elongation of F. verticillioides. MFZ treatment significantly reduced fumonisin production and the expression levels of fumonisin biosynthetic genes. Genome-wide transcriptional profiling of F. verticillioides in response to MFZ indicated that the expression of genes involved in ergosterol biosynthesis, including fungicide target genes (cyp51 genes), was significantly downregulated by MFZ. MFZ treatment resulted in reduced ergosterol production and increased glycerol and malonaldehyde production as well as relative conductivity in F. verticillioides. A 2-year field experiment showed a significant reduction in FER severity in maize after spraying with MFZ at the tasseling stage. This study evaluated the potential of MFZ to control FER in maize and provides insights into its antifungal activities and mechanism of action against F. verticillioides.