Molecular Pathogens, 2025, Vol.16, No.3, 87-99 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/mp 89 to light brown velvety, and the conidia are slightly thicker and shorter, usually with 3~5 septa, and less curved than F. oxysporum (Scruggs and Quesada-Ocampo, 2016). The study by Paul et al. (2021) showed the typical lesions of sweet potatoes during storage and the culture characteristics of their corresponding pathogens, such as dry rot symptoms caused by F. oxysporum, black rot caused by salicylic acid precursor infection, and mold layer morphology caused by other fungal infections (Figure 1) (Paul et al., 2020; De Mello et al., 2021). It can be seen that the color and structure of the colonies on the culture medium are unique, providing a morphological intuitive reference for experimental identification. Figure 1 Symptoms of sweet potato postharvest diseases collected from local markets in Korea (Adopted from Paul et al., 2021) Image caption: (A) Fusarium surface rot, (B) charcoal rot, (C) Aspergillus mold, (D) surface rot, (E) end rot, and (F) Penicillium mold. The surface sterilized storage root tissues of Fusarium rot, charcoal rot, and other diseases were placed on potato dextrose agar media containing antibiotics. Examples of fungal colonies grown from the tissues of Fusarium rot (G, H) and charcoal rot (I) are shown (Adopted from Paul et al., 2021) However, due to the subtle morphological differences between different Fusarium species and the fact that sweet potato tubers are often infected by a variety of pathogens, it is difficult to accurately distinguish the composition and dominant species of each pathogen based on morphological characteristics alone. For this reason, modern molecular biological methods have been widely used in the identification and classification of sweet potato root rot pathogens. Paul et al. sequenced and analyzed the ribosomal ITS sequence and elongation factor EF-1α gene of ten strains isolated from sweet potato root rot samples in South Korea, and found that these strains were clustered in a molecular phylogeny and were highly homologous to the standard strain identified as F. oxysporum, thus confirming that these isolates all belonged to Fusarium oxysporum. In addition, serological detection methods have also been applied, such as ELISA detection using polyclonal antibodies against specific Fusarium strains, which can quickly indicate the presence of pathogens (Komada et al., 2021). With the development of genomic and proteomic technologies, progress has also been made in the intraspecific classification and virulence gene analysis of root rot pathogens. For example, genome comparison
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