Fungal Pathogenicity

Dear Colleagues,

Fungal infections have a profound impact on our planet. Human fungal infections pose a significant global threat, as recently emphasized in the first publication of a fungal priority pathogens list (FPPL) by the World Health Organization. Fungal infections in livestock cause significant economic losses through reduced productivity, reproductive failure, and death. Plant fungal infections compromise food security, devastating nearly 40% of global crop production annually and taking another 30% of harvested produce. Fungal infections are also causing catastrophic declines in wildlife and altering ecosystems by driving species extinction and reducing biodiversity. Even fungal cross-kingdom pathogens are causing severe infection-mediated harm to phylogenetically distant hosts. Importantly, preventing and treating fungal infections is particularly challenging due to the difficulty of eliminating toxic side effects and the extensive ability of fungi to exhibit a high degree of tolerance and mount resistance to antifungal drugs. Finding the Achilles' heel of a fungal pathogen is the key to the successful treatment and prevention of infections. However, our knowledge of the specific mechanisms responsible for fungal virulence remains incomplete. Some of these mechanisms may be similar to those of many otherwise unrelated fungal pathogenic species, while others may be species-specific. Notably, the evolution of pathogenicity is a dynamic process that continues to occur and results in new infection cases, posing new challenges. This thematic issue is meant to provide a platform that showcases the latest findings that represent a wide array of subjects, including human health, agriculture, and ecology, under a common theme of the mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis and the responses to antifungal treatments.

Dr. Lukasz Kozubowski
Dr. Domingo Martínez-Soto
Guest Editors

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• mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis
• phytopathogenic fungi
• pathogenic fungi of humans
• cross-kingdom fungal pathogens
• host pathogen interactions