Specific mechanisms contributing to the antifungal activity of α-thujone, one of the main compounds of essential oils in herbs, against Fusarium graminearum, which causes various diseases of cereals, were studied for the first time. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of α-thujone was 3.2 μg μL⁻¹ for F. graminearum. Its toxigenic effect was confirmed by WST-1-based cytotoxicity assay. Due to α-thujone treatment, changes in genomic template stability (GTS), type II and III methylation profiles were detected. GTS rates were calculated as 89.33 and 94% according to random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism (IRAP) assays, respectively. Mean values of polymorphisms were 28.92 and 36.42% by evaluating digestion profiles. Gene expression analysis showed α-thujone caused upregulation of mgv1, mst20 and cat genes but downregulation of tri5. Fold change values were 1.86 ± 0.14, 3.10 ± 0.03, 2.56 ± 0.078 and 0.43 ± 0.15 respectively. The acridine orange-ethidium bromide (Ao/Eb) and 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA) staining assays revealed that α-thujone treatment triggers apoptosis and oxidative stress in F. graminearum at cellular level. Additionally, 6.51-fold increase in catalase activity in comparison with the control was detected. There were no statistically significant changes in water loss rates (WLRs) when Hordeum vulgare L. cv. Akhisar seedlings were treated with α-thujone. According to the water loss rate values, α-thujone is not a potential abiotic stress factor that negatively affects the physiological development of barley plantlets. Outcomes showed that α-thujone leads to serious morphological, genetic, epigenetic, cellular alterations on F. graminearum, so could be a candidate as an alternative herbal antifungal compound.

首次研究了导致α-丁酮（草药精油的主要化合物之一）对引起各种谷物疾病的禾本科镰刀菌的抗真菌活性的具体机制。对禾谷镰刀菌的最小抑制浓度（MIC）值为3.2μgμL- ¹。通过基于WST-1的细胞毒性试验证实了其毒性。由于α-thujone处理，检测到基因组模板稳定性（GTS），II型和III型甲基化谱的变化。根据随机扩增多态性DNA（RAPD）和逆转录转座子间扩增多态性（IRAP）分析，GTS率分别计算为89.33和94％。通过评估消化谱，多态性的平均值分别为28.92和36.42％。基因表达分析表明，α-thujone引起mgv1，mst20和cat基因的上调，但tri5的下调。倍数变化值分别为1.86±0.14、3.10±0.03、2.56±0.078和0.43±0.15。cr啶橙-溴化乙锭（Ao / Eb）和2'，7'-二氯二氢荧光素二乙酸盐（DCF-DA）染色测定显示，α-thujone处理在细胞水平上触发了禾谷镰刀菌的凋亡和氧化应激。另外，与对照相比，检测到过氧化氢酶活性增加了6.51倍。大麦（Hordeum vulgare L. cv ）的失水率（WLRs）没有统计上的显着变化。Akhisar幼苗用α-thujone处理。根据失水率值，α-thujone不是潜在的非生物胁迫因素，会对大麦苗的生理发育产生负面影响。结果表明，α-thujone会导致禾谷镰刀菌发生严重的形态，遗传，表观遗传学，细胞改变，因此有望成为替代草药抗真菌化合物的候选者。