Patterns of Diversity of Fungi Contaminating Soybean Grains.

Soybean is an important, high protein source of food and feed. However, like other agricultural grains, soybean may pose a risk to human and animal health due to contamination of the grains with toxigenic Fusaria and associated mycotoxins. In this study, we investigated the diversity of Fusaria on a panel of 104 field isolates obtained from soybean grains during the growing seasons in 2017-2020. The results of species-specific PCR analyses showed that was the most common ( = 40) species associated with soybean grains in Poland, followed by ( = 22) and (11 isolates). A set of isolates, which was not determined based on PCR analyses, was whole genome sequenced. Multiple sequence analyses using , , , , and genes showed that most of them belonged to Equiseti clade. Three cryptic species from this clade: and FIESC 31 (lacking Latin binomial) were found on soybean for the first time. This is the first report demonstrating the prevalence of Fusaria on soybean grains in Poland.