2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde, a more effective antifungal aroma than vanillin and its derivatives against Fusarium graminearum, destroys cell membranes, inhibits DON biosynthesis, and performs a promising antifungal effect on wheat grains

Qian Li; Chong Wang; Hongying Xiao; Yiming Zhang; Yanli Xie

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2024.1359947

2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde, a more effective antifungal aroma than vanillin and its derivatives against Fusarium graminearum, destroys cell membranes, inhibits DON biosynthesis, and performs a promising antifungal effect on wheat grains

Front Microbiol. 2024 Feb 26:15:1359947. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1359947. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Qian Li^{1

2}, Chong Wang^{1

2}, Hongying Xiao^{1

2}, Yiming Zhang^{1

2}, Yanli Xie^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Grain, Oil and Food Engineering Technology Research Center of the State Grain and Reserves Administration/Key Laboratory of Henan Province, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
² Henan Key laboratory of Cereal and Oil Food Safety and Nutrition, College of Food Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.

Abstract

Fusarium graminearum (F. graminearum) is a severe pathogen threatening the safety of agriculture and food. This study aimed to explore the antifungal efficacies of several plant-derived natural compounds (vanillin and its derivatives) against the growth of F. graminearum and investigate the antifungal mechanism of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde (HMB), the strongest one. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of HMB in inhibiting mycelial growth was 200 μg/mL. HMB at MIC damaged cell membranes by increasing the permeability by about 6-fold (p < 0.05) as evidenced by propidium iodide (PI) staining. Meanwhile, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) and glycerol was increased by 45.91 and 576.19% by HMB treatment at MIC, respectively, indicating that lipid oxidation and osmotic stress occurred in the cell membrane. Furthermore, HMB exerted a strong antitoxigenic role as the content of deoxynivalenol (DON) was remarkably reduced by 93.59% at MIC on 7th day. At last, the antifungal effect of HMB against F. graminearum was also confirmed on wheat grains. These results not only revealed the antifungal mechanism of HMB but also suggested that HMB could be applied as a promising antifungal agent in the preservation of agricultural products.

Keywords: 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde; Fusarium graminearum; antifungal mechanism; vanillin and its derivatives; wheat grain.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. We thank for the financial support of Grain, Oil and Food Engineering Technology Research Center of the State Grain and Reserves Administration/Key Laboratory of Henan Province (GO202206), Henan Province Key Research and Development and promotion Project (Science and Technology Research) (232102111058), Cultivation Programme for Young Backbone Teachers in Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou Key Science and Technology Innovation Project (2020CXZX0077), Key R&D projects in Henan Province (231111113300), and Double First-Class Discipline Construction Program of Henan University of Technology (0517-24410014).