Fusarium, Alternaria, and Rhizoctonia: A Spotlight on Fungal Pathogens—3rd Edition

A special issue of Journal of Fungi (ISSN 2309-608X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 December 2025 | Viewed by 301

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Interests: species identification of Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium; molecular mechanism of resistance to fungicides; mycoviruses associated with fungi
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China
Interests: Fusarium and Fusarium mycovirus
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium are very important phytopathogens that cause devastating diseases in many important crops all over the world. The accurate species identification of plant pathogens will provide a theoretical basis for controlling diseases effectively. To date, the management of crop diseases caused by these three genera has mainly relied on the timely application of fungicides. However, resistance to fungicides has been reported in Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium due to their long-term use. In addition, many biocontrol agents have been recorded to protect crops from infection by pathogens belonging to these three genera. Mycoviruses are viruses that replicate in fungi and are widespread in all major taxonomic groups of fungi, including Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium. Some mycoviruses are reported to confer hypovirulence or hypervirulence to their host fungi, and mycoviruses that confer hypovirulence are considered potential biological agents for controlling fungal diseases. This Special Issue will showcase contributions exploring advances in species identification, molecular mechanisms of resistance, pathogenic mechanisms, resistance mechanisms in plants, mycoviruses, and biocontrol agents used to control diseases caused by Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to,

  • the species identification of Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium;
  • molecular mechanism of resistance in Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium to fungicides;
  • pathogenic mechanisms in Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium;
  • resistance mechanisms in plants to Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium;
  • mycoviruses associated with Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium;
  • biocontrol agents used to control diseases caused by Alternaria, Rhizoctonia, and Fusarium.

Prof. Dr. Xuehong Wu
Prof. Dr. Lihua Guo
Prof. Dr. Shimin Zuo
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • species identification
  • molecular mechanism of resistance
  • pathogenic mechanism
  • resistance mechanisms in plants
  • mycoviruses
  • biocontrol agents

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 5499 KiB  
Article
Overexpression of OsCSP41b Enhances Rice Tolerance to Sheath Blight Caused by Rhizoctonia solani
by Jianhua Zhao, Yan Zhang, Taixuan Liu, Guangda Wang, Ran Ju, Quanyi Sun, Qi Chen, Yixuan Xiong, Penfei Zhai, Wenya Xie, Zhiming Feng, Zongxiang Chen, Kemin Hu and Shimin Zuo
J. Fungi 2025, 11(8), 548; https://doi.org/10.3390/jof11080548 - 23 Jul 2025
Viewed by 120
Abstract
Sheath blight (ShB), caused by the necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani), poses severe threats to global rice production. Developing a resistant variety with an ShB-resistance gene is one of most efficient and economical approaches to control the disease. Here, we [...] Read more.
Sheath blight (ShB), caused by the necrotrophic fungus Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani), poses severe threats to global rice production. Developing a resistant variety with an ShB-resistance gene is one of most efficient and economical approaches to control the disease. Here, we identified a highly conserved chloroplast-localized stem-loop-binding protein encoding gene (OsCSP41b), which shows great potential in developing an ShB-resistant variety. OsCSP41b-knockout mutants exhibit chlorotic leaves and increased ShB susceptibility, whereas OsCSP41b-overexpressing lines (CSP41b-OE) display significantly enhanced resistance to R. solani, as well as to drought, and salinity stresses. Notably, CSP41b-OE lines present a completely comparable grain yield to the wild type (WT). Transcriptomic analyses reveal that chloroplast transcripts and photosynthesis-associated genes maintain observably elevated stability in CSP41b-OE plants versus WT plants following R. solani infection, which probably accounts for the enhanced ShB resistance of CSP41b-OE. Our findings nominate the OsCSP41b gene as a promising molecular target for developing a rice variety with stronger resistance to both R. solani and multi-abiotic stresses. Full article
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