Fuente: PubMed "agrofood sustainability" Int J Biol Macromol. 2026 Mar 28;357:151720. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.151720. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTFusarium graminearum and its major mycotoxin, deoxynivalenol (DON), pose significant threats to global food safety and agricultural sustainability. Velvet family proteins are known to regulate fungal development, conidiation, secondary metabolites and pathogenicity. While velvet family protein A (FgVeA) and B (FgVelB) have been well characterized in F. graminearum, the biological function of velvet family protein C (FgVelC) remains largely unexplored. In this study, FgVelC was first identified and functionally characterized using targeted gene deletion. Despite mycelial growth and sexual reproduction being unaffected, deletion of FgVelC resulted in increased conidial production and altered conidial morphology. FgVelC also contributed to tolerance to abiotic stress, including cell wall stress, member stress, osmotic stress, and oxidative stress. Notably, FgVelC modulates trichothecene biosynthesis genes expression and regulates DON production, thereby influencing the pathogen virulence. Transcriptome analysis revealed that FgVelC is involved in multiple metabolic and physiological processes, including amino acid, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism, immune response, oxidoreductase activity and secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Yeast two-hybrid assays further identified physical interactions between FgVelC and both FgVeA and FgVelB, suggesting that FgVelC's functions may depend on the formation of FgVeA/FgVelB-FgVelC complexes. Collectively, these results indicate that FgVelC coordinates conidiation, DON biosynthesis and pathogenicity.PMID:41911997 | DOI:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2026.151720