Fusarium–plant interaction: state of the art – a review

Abstract

One of the most important genera able to develop diseases in cereals is Fusarium which not only produces losses by the fungal presence but also mycotoxin production harmful to human and animal consumers. In the environment, plants are continuously threatened by abiotic and biotic stresses. Among the latter, pathogens gained importance mainly due to their ability to affect the plant fitness. To protect against potential attacks, plants have developed strategies in which phytohormones have an essential role. In plant–pathogen interactions, salicylic acid, ethylene, and jasmonates are the most important, but there are also auxins, gibberellins, abscisic acid, cytokinins, brassinosteroids, and peptide hormones involved in plant defence. The interaction between Fusarium species and plants used as models has been developed to allow understanding the plant behaviour against this kind of pathogen with the aim to develop several strategies to decrease the Fusarium disease effects.