Fungal Plant Pathogens

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal phytopathogens are a significant concern in the fields of agriculture, floriculture, and horticulture. They are major agents of plant diseases resulting in great economic losses every year. However, most fungal plant pathogens do not produce sexual morphs and may have overlapping morphological characteristics, making it difficult to identify these species accurately. DNA-based phylogenies may also encounter difficulties in accurate identifications due to insufficient sampling sizes, wrong sequence data, and misinterpretation of analyses. Current taxonomic systems of many pathogenic fungal groups are far from perfect, and complex and cryptic species are commonplace. It is interesting to see the same species causing disease in a wide range of hosts, whereas some species are host-specific or geographically endemic. Some phytopathogens are emerging or re-emerging, creating a potential threat to the biodiversity as well as the economy of a country. Hence, studies on phytopathogens are essential.

This Special Issue aims to unravel the taxonomic boundaries of fungal phytopathogens. Both original research articles and reviews about fungal pathogens, especially those on crops, are welcomed.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Xiangyu Zeng
Prof. Dr. Yong Wang
Dr. Ruvishika S. Jayawardena
Dr. Haixia Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Fungi is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.