Kinetic pulse-labeling study of Fusarium culmorum. Biosynthetic intermediates and dead-end metabolites.

A kinetic pulse-labeling method was utilized in Fusarium culmorum to detect plausible biosynthetic intermediates and differentiate them from dead-end metabolites. The ultimate test to demonstrate a precursor relies on feeding experiments. We now report the detection of four new metabolites, one of them (compound 1) behaves as a dead-end metabolite, whereas compounds 2, 3, and 4 seem to be putative intermediates: they metabolize with time just when 3-acetyldeoxynivalenol (3-ADN) and/or sambucinol (SOL) start to be produced. Feeding experiments confirmed these results: compound 1 is not converted to 3-ADN or SOL, and compounds 2-4 are precursors to 3-ADN. In addition 3 is a precursor to SOL.