Editorial: Fusarium species as plant and human pathogens, mycotoxin producers, and biotechnological importance

Abstract

The fungal genus Fusarium Link includes many plant pathogens of agricultural crops, human pathogens, and species with biotechnological applications (Leslie and Summerell, 2006; Aoki et al., 2014; Meyer et al., 2020; Geiser et al., 2021). The main concern in the last decades has been devoted to those species that infect staple crops and produce secondary metabolites known as mycotoxins. Mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species have been shown to occur worldwide. Among these, fumonisins and trichothecenes are of great concern for their impact on human and animal health (Munkvold et al., 2021). Under a scenario of climate change, the situation can worsen due to changes in fungal biodiversity, in the resistance/resilience of crops, and in the strong impact of the environmental factors affecting both global food security and safety (Singh et al., 2023).