ABSTRACT
The ascomycete fungal pathogen Fusarium spp. causal agent of vascular wilts in major crops, is a challenging pathogen worldwide. This disease causes economic yield loss either directly or through diverse fungal mycotoxins, which constitute a significant threat to the human health. This chapter helps in understanding the dynamics and existence of Fusarium spp. in the soil and their interaction with the microorganism, which explore the possibility of identifying new proteins or genes in host–pathogen interaction. For plant-microbe interaction, rhizosphere is the major zone which provides a platform for colonization of different microorganisms either beneficial or harmful. A better understanding of fungal biology, pathogenicity, and plant fungus interactions is needed for efficient and sustainable disease management. It can be obtained by employing various methodological approaches, one of them being proteomics. Proteomics has become a powerful tool for providing important information about pathogenicity and virulence factors, thus opening up new possibilities for crop disease diagnosis and crop protection.
