Plant–Fungi Interactions: Where It Goes?

Abstract

Fungi live different lifestyles—including pathogenic and symbiotic—by interacting with living plants. Recently, there has been a substantial increase in the study of phytopathogenic fungi and their interactions with plants. Symbiotic relationships with plants appear to be lagging behind, although progressive. Phytopathogenic fungi cause diseases in plants and put pressure on survival. Plants fight back against such pathogens through complicated self-defense mechanisms. However, phytopathogenic fungi develop virulent responses to overcome plant defense reactions, thus continuing their deteriorative impacts. Symbiotic relationships positively influence both plants and fungi. More interestingly, they also help plants protect themselves from pathogens. In light of the nonstop discovery of novel fungi and their strains, it is imperative to pay more attention to plant–fungi interactions. Both plants and fungi are responsive to environmental changes, therefore construction of their interaction effects has emerged as a new field of study. In this review, we first attempt to highlight the evolutionary aspect of plant–fungi interactions, then the mechanism of plants to avoid the negative impact of pathogenic fungi, and fungal strategies to overcome the plant defensive responses once they have been invaded, and finally the changes of such interactions under the different environmental conditions.