The veA or velvet gene is necessary for biosynthesis of mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites in Aspergillus species. In addition, veA has also been demonstrated to be necessary for normal seed colonization in Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. The present study shows that veA homologues are broadly distributed in fungi, particularly in Ascomycetes. The Fusarium verticillioides veA orthologue, FvVE1, is also required for the synthesis of several secondary metabolites, including fumonisin and fusarins. This study also shows that maize plants grown from seeds inoculated with FvVE1 deletion mutants did not show disease symptoms, while plants grown from seeds inoculated with the F. verticillioides wildtype and complementation strains clearly showed disease symptoms under the same experimental conditions. In this latter case, the presence of lesions coincided with accumulation of fumonisins in the plant tissues, and only these plant tissues had elevated levels of sphingoid bases and their 1-phosphate derivatives, indicating inhibition of ceramide synthase and disruption of sphingolipid metabolism. The results strongly suggest that FvVE1 is necessary for pathogenicity by F. verticillioides against maize seedlings. The conservation of veA homologues among ascomycetes suggests that veA could play a pivotal role in regulating secondary metabolism and associated pathogenicity in other fungi.

中文翻译：

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保守的全局调节因子 VeA 是轮枝镰刀菌 (Fusarium v​​erticillioides) 在玉米幼苗中产生症状和合成霉菌毒素所必需的

veA 或 velvet 基因是曲霉属真菌毒素和其他次级代谢产物的生物合成所必需的。此外，还已证明 veA 是黄曲霉和寄生曲霉中正常种子定植所必需的。本研究表明 veA 同系物广泛分布于真菌中，尤其是在子囊菌中。Fusarium v​​erticillioides veA 直向同源物 FvVE1 也是合成几种次级代谢物（包括伏马菌素和镰刀菌素）所必需的。该研究还表明，从接种 FvVE1 缺失突变体的种子生长的玉米植株没有表现出疾病症状，而从接种轮枝镰刀菌野生型和互补菌株的种子生长的植物在相同的实验条件下明显表现出疾病症状。在后一种情况下，病变的存在与伏​​马菌素在植物组织中的积累同时发生，只有这些植物组织的鞘氨醇碱基及其 1-磷酸衍生物水平升高，表明神经酰胺合成酶受到抑制并破坏鞘脂代谢。结果强烈表明 FvVE1 是轮枝杆菌对玉米幼苗的致病性所必需的。子囊菌中 veA 同源物的保守性表明 veA 可以在调节其他真菌的次级代谢和相关致病性方面发挥关键作用。结果强烈表明 FvVE1 是轮枝杆菌对玉米幼苗的致病性所必需的。子囊菌中 veA 同源物的保守性表明 veA 可以在调节其他真菌的次级代谢和相关致病性方面发挥关键作用。结果强烈表明 FvVE1 是轮枝杆菌对玉米幼苗的致病性所必需的。子囊菌中 veA 同源物的保守性表明 veA 可以在调节其他真菌的次级代谢和相关致病性方面发挥关键作用。