Systematics of key phytopathogenic Fusarium species: current status and future challenges

Abstract

This review is intended to provide plant pathologists and other scientists with a current overview of the most important Fusarium phytopathogens and mycotoxin producers. Knowledge of Fusarium species diversity and their evolutionary relationships has increased dramatically due to the application of multilocus molecular phylogenetics and genealogical concordance phylogenetic species recognition over the past 15 years. Currently Fusarium is estimated to comprise at least 300 genealogically exclusive phylogenetic species; however, fewer than half have been formally described. The most important plant pathogens reside in the following four groups: the F. fujikuroi species complex noted for Bakanae of rice, ear rot of maize, pitch canker of pine and several species that contaminate corn and other cereals with fumonisin mycotoxins; the F. graminearum species complex including the primary agents causing Fusarium head blight of wheat and barley that contaminate grain with trichothecene mycotoxins; the F. oxysporum species complex including vascular wilt agents of over 100 agronomically important crops; and the F. solani species complex, which includes many economically destructive foot and root rot pathogens of diverse hosts. Several other Fusarium phytopathogens reported from Japan and nested within other species complexes are reviewed briefly. With the abandonment of dual nomenclature, a broad consensus within the global community of Fusarium researchers has strongly supported the unitary use of the name Fusarium instead of several teleomorph names linked to it. Plant pathologists and other scientists needing accurate identifications of Fusarium isolates are encouraged to use Fusarium-ID and Fusarium MLST, Internet accessible websites dedicated to the molecular identification of Fusarium species.