Research on livestock toxicoses caused by Acremonium (endophyte)-infected grasses strongly implicate the ergopeptine alkaloids with A. coenophialum-infected fescue and paxilline and the lolitrem alkaloids with A. lolii-infected perennial ryegrass as the causative agents. Isolation, identification, and detection of these toxins involves extraction with appropriate solvents, clean-up procedures, ...

Evidence is presented that ergot alkaloids are ubiquitous in tall fescue pastures infected with the clavicipitaceous fungal endophyte Sphacelia typhina (or Acremonium coenophialum). Ergopeptide alkaloids, predominantly ergovaline, constituted 10 to 50 percent of the total ergot alkaloid concentration, which was as high as 14 milligrams per kilogram in sheaths and 1.5 milligrams per kilogram in ...

The lpsA gene, a late acting gene in the biosynthetic pathway of ergovaline, a suspected causative agent for fescue toxicosis in cattle, has been cloned from Neotyphodium lolii, an endophytic fungus of Lolium perenne. In this study, a similar gene was detected in several strains of endophytic Neotyphodium spp. isolated from grass hosts endogenous to Iran using direct and nested-PCR assays. Exce...

This experiment was conducted to evaluate if consumption of endophyte-infected fescue alters digital circulation in the distal thoracic limb of the horse and to assess if soundness of the hooves of horses is affected by consumption of endophyte-infected fescue. Twelve American Quarter Horses (mean initial BW 459 ± 31 kg), 6 mares and 6 geldings, were used in this 90-d study that comprised high-...

The hypotheses that endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum)-infected tall fescue (TF) seed causes vasoconstriction in horses in vivo and that ground seed would cause more pronounced vasoconstriction than whole seed were tested. Ten horses each received 1 of 3 treatments: endophyte-free ground (E-G; n = 4 horses) seed, endophyte-positive whole (E+W; n = 3) seed, or endophyte-positive ground (E+G; ...