Fusarium moniliforme is a concerned toxin-producing fungus, which widely exists, in the natural environment, mainly contaminated in grains such as maize, wheat, rice etc. In 1988, Fumonisins were first reported as group of novel mycotoxins, mainly produced by Fusarium moniliforme, consisting of FA, FB, FC and FP series etc. FBs are generally occurred in the agricultural products, and FB1 exists extensively and has strongest toxicity. Risk assessments on the potential of fumonisin hazards to the foodstuff safety for human and animals were organized by FAO/WHO Joint Expert Committee of Food Additives (JECFA), which brought out fumonisins being the concerted point on food safety following aflatoxin B1.

Occurrence of fumonisin and ecological distribution of Fusarium moniliforme: The first survey on the levels of fumonisin B1 occurrence in Chinese resident？？s staple grains was carried out. It was found that 3 major cereals including maize, wheat and rice, especially maize, were severely contaminated by FB1. Out of 104 strains of Fusarium moniliforme and 24 strains of Fusarium moniliforme var. isolated from more than 2000 cereals samples. Ten strains generating high levels of FB1 and 7 strains generating high levels of FB3 were identified from 65 fumonisins-producing strains. The basic information is extremely valuable for bringing forward FB1 tolerance limits in foods, protecting human health and promoting international trades.

Molecular biological Study on Fusarium moniliforme and fumonisins-producing strains: Two pairs of type specific primers for F. moniliforme, type I and type II, Fu5/4, Fu3/2, and one pair of genus-specific primer for Fusarium genus, Fu3/F4 were designed, based on 18S, 5.8S, 28S rDNA and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence of fungi. Three pairs of PCR primers, P1/P2, P3/P4 and Fum5F21/ Fum5R, were designed based on the polyketide synthase gene involved in fumonisins biosynthesis. The specific PCR technique for detecting F. moniliforme strains and fumonisin-producing F. moniliforme strains were developed. The FB biosynthase gene was detected from all 32 isolates, which were accordant with the fumonisin determination by HPLC. The rDNA and ITS sequence of the fumonisin-producing F. moniliforme isolates in China and 5 typical strains of ATCC were analyzed. It was found that the rDNA highly divergent ITS2 sequences of isolates with positive fumonisin biosynthase gene from China were type I, which were consistent with a ATCC strain, fumonisin-producing isolates from South African.

Studies on techniques for detecting fumonisin and FB inhibiting human sphingolipid metabolism: Both of the HPLC and McAb-ELISA method for detecting FB in food were first reported in China, the sensitivity were 12 ？？g/kg and 10 ng/ml separately. Furthermore, the sensitive HPLC method for determining sphinganine (Sa) and sphingosine (So) in human urine was established in China, which solved the problem that low dilution of Sa in male human urine could not been detected by the similar method in abroad laboratories. The data of human exposure to FBs were first reported in the world and revealed that FB may inhibit human sphingolipid metabolism.