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Let be the adjacency matrix of a graph and suppose ) = exp( ). We say that we have perfect state transfer in from the vertex to the vertex at time if there is a scalar of unit modulus such that = . It is known that perfect state transfer is rare. So C.Godsil gave a relaxation of this definition: we say that we have pretty good state transfer from to if there exists a complex number of unit modulus and, for each positive real there is a time such that ‖ ‖ < . In this paper, the quantum state transfer on 1-sum of star graphs is explored. We show that there is no perfect state transfer on , but there is pretty good state transfer on if and only if =

The ability of pathogenic fungi to switch between a multicellular hyphal and unicellular yeast growth form is a tightly regulated process known as dimorphic switching. Dimorphic switching requires the fungus to sense and respond to the host environment and is essential for pathogenicity. This review will focus on the role of dimorphism in fungi commonly called thermally dimorphic fungi, which switch to a yeast growth form during infection. This group of phylogenetically diverse ascomycetes includes Talaromyces marneffei (recently renamed from Penicillium marneffei), Blastomyces dermatitidis (teleomorph Ajellomyces dermatitidis), Coccidioides species (C. immitis and C. posadasii), Histoplasma capsulatum (teleomorph Ajellomyces capsulatum), Paracoccidioides species (P. brasiliensis and P. lutzii) and Sporothrix schenckii (teleomorph Ophiostoma schenckii). This review will explore both the signalling pathways regulating the morphological transition and the transcriptional responses necessary for intracellular growth. The physiological requirements of yeast cells during infection will also be discussed, highlighting recent advances in the understanding of the role of iron and calcium acquisition during infection. Fungi generate a variety of cellular morphologies to facilitate colonization of new environmental niches. Many pathogenic fungi switch from a multi-cellular to a unicellular growth form during infection and this permits adaptation to unique environmental niches within the host.

Wheat is among the ten top and most widely grown crops in the world. Several diseases cause losses in wheat production in different parts of the world. Bipolaris sorokiniana (teleomorph, Cochliobolus sativus ) is one of the wheat pathogens that can attack all wheat parts, including seeds, roots, shoots, and leaves. Black point, root rot, crown rot and spot blotch are the main diseases caused by B. sorokiniana in wheat. Seed infection by B. sorokiniana can result in black point disease, reducing seed quality and seed germination and is considered a main source of inoculum for diseases such as common root rot and spot blotch. Root rot and crown rot diseases, which result from soil-borne or seed-borne inoculum, can result in yield losses in wheat. Spot blotch disease affects wheat in different parts of the world and cause significant losses in grain yield. This review paper summarizes the latest findings on B. sorokiniana , with a specific emphasis on management using genetic, chemical, cultural, and biological control measures.

Anthracnose disease caused by Colletotrichum species is a major constraint for the shelf-life and marketability of avocado fruits. To date, only C . gloeosporioides sensu lato and C . aenigma have been reported as pathogens affecting avocado in Israel. This study was conducted to identify and characterize Colletotrichum species associated with avocado anthracnose and to determine their survival on different host-structures in Israel. The pathogen survived and over-wintered mainly on fresh and dry leaves, as well as fresh twigs in the orchard. A collection of 538 Colletotrichum isolates used in this study was initially characterized based on morphology and banding patterns generated according to arbitrarily primed PCR to assess the genetic diversity of the fungal populations. Thereafter, based on multi-locus phylogenetic analyses involving combinations of ITS, act , ApMat , cal , chs1 , gapdh , gs , his3 , tub 2 gene/markers; eight previously described species ( C . aenigma , C . alienum , C . fructicola , C . gloeosporioides sensu stricto , C . karstii , C . nupharicola , C . siamense , C . theobromicola ) and a novel species ( C . perseae ) were identified, as avocado anthracnose pathogens in Israel; and reconfirmed after pathogenicity assays. Colletotrichum perseae sp. nov. and teleomorph of C . aenigma are described along with comprehensive morphological descriptions and illustrations, for the first time in this study.

Vascular wilt of tomato caused by f.sp. (FOL) is one of the most devastating diseases, that delimits the tomato production worldwide. Fungal short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (SDRs) are NADP(H) dependent oxidoreductases, having shared motifs and common functional mechanism, have been demonstrated as biochemical targets for commercial fungicides. The 1,3,6,8 tetra hydroxynaphthalene reductase (T4HNR) protein, a member of SDRs family, catalyzes the naphthol reduction reaction in fungal melanin biosynthesis. We retrieved an orthologous member of T4HNR, (complexed with NADP(H) and pyroquilon from ) in the FOL (namely; FOXG_04696) based on homology search, percent identity and sequence similarity (93% query cover; 49% identity). The hypothetical protein FOXG_04696 (T4HNR like) had conserved T-G-X-X-X-G-X-G motif (cofactor binding site) at N-terminus, similar to (1JA9) and Y-X-X-X-K motif, as a part of the active site, bearing homologies with two fungal keto reductases T4HNR ( ) and 17-β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase from (teleomorph: PDB ID: 3IS3). The catalytic tetrad of T4HNR was replaced with ASN , SER , TYR , and LYS in the FOXG_04696. The structural alignment and superposition of FOXG_04696 over the template proteins (3IS3 and 1JA9) revealed minimum RMSD deviations of the C alpha atomic coordinates, and therefore, had structural conservation. The best protein model (FOXG_04696) was docked with 37 fungicides, to evaluate their binding affinities. The Glide XP and YASARA docked complexes showed discrepancies in results, for scoring and ranking the binding affinities of fungicides. The docked complexes were further refined and rescored from their docked poses through 50 ns long MD simulations, and binding free energies (ΔG ) calculations, using MM/GBSA analysis, revealed Oxathiapiprolin and Famoxadone as better fungicides among the selected one. However, Famoxadone had better interaction of the docked residues, with best protein ligand contacts, minimum RMSD (high accuracy of the docking pose) and RMSF (structural integrity and conformational flexibility of docking) at the specified docking site. The Famoxadone was found to be acceptable based on toxicity and growth inhibition assessment. We conclude that the FOXG_04696, could be employed as a novel candidate protein, for structure-based design, and screening of target fungicides against the FOL pathogen.

Botrytis cinerea Pers. Fr. (teleomorph: Botryotinia fuckeliana) is a necrotrophic fungal pathogen that attacks a wide range of plants. This updated pathogen profile explores the extensive genetic diversity of B. cinerea, highlights the progress in genome sequencing, and provides current knowledge of genetic and molecular mechanisms employed by the fungus to attack its hosts. In addition, we also discuss recent innovative strategies to combat B. cinerea. Taxonomy Kingdom: Fungi, phylum: Ascomycota, subphylum: Pezizomycotina, class: Leotiomycetes, order: Helotiales, family: Sclerotiniaceae, genus: Botrytis, species: cinerea. Host range B. cinerea infects almost all of the plant groups (angiosperms, gymnosperms, pteridophytes, and bryophytes). To date, 1606 plant species have been identified as hosts of B. cinerea. Genetic diversity This polyphagous necrotroph has extensive genetic diversity at all population levels shaped by climate, geography, and plant host variation. Pathogenicity Genetic architecture of virulence and host specificity is polygenic using multiple weapons to target hosts, including secretory proteins, complex signal transduction pathways, metabolites, and mobile small RNA. Disease control strategies Efforts to control B. cinerea, being a high‐diversity generalist pathogen, are complicated. However, integrated disease management strategies that combine cultural practices, chemical and biological controls, and the use of appropriate crop varieties will lessen yield losses. Recently, studies conducted worldwide have explored the potential of small RNA as an efficient and environmentally friendly approach for combating grey mould. However, additional research is necessary, especially on risk assessment and regulatory frameworks, to fully harness the potential of this technology. Botrytis cinerea is a generalist fungal phytopathogen with high genetic diversity that utilizes diverse signalling cascades to infect a wide range of hosts.

Spot blotch (SB) caused by Bipolaris sorokiniana (teleomorph Cochliobolus sativus ) is one of the devastating diseases of wheat in the warm and humid growing areas around the world. B. sorokiniana can infect leaves, stem, roots, rachis and seeds, and is able to produce toxins like helminthosporol and sorokinianin. No wheat variety is immune to SB; hence, an integrated disease management strategy is indispensable in disease prone areas. A range of fungicides, especially the triazole group, have shown good effects in reducing the disease, and crop-rotation, tillage and early sowing are among the favorable cultural management methods. Resistance is mostly quantitative, being governed by QTLs with minor effects, mapped on all the wheat chromosomes. Only four QTLs with major effects have been designated as Sb1 through Sb4 . Despite, marker assisted breeding for SB resistance in wheat is scarce. Better understanding of wheat genome assemblies, functional genomics and cloning of resistance genes will further accelerate breeding for SB resistance in wheat.

Southern Corn Leaf Blight (SCLB, also called Maize Leaf Blight, MLB), caused by Bipolaris maydis (teleomorph: Cochliobolus heterostrophus ), severely limits maize yield under favourable conditions. Rapid detection and precise interventions are essential for sustainable production. We present an AI-driven framework integrating deep learning diagnostics, precision fungicide application, and a digital decision support system (DSS) for field-level SCLB management. Thirteen machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) algorithms were evaluated, with VGG16 achieving the highest performance (accuracy 97.0%, precision 0.98, recall 0.96, F1-score ≥ 0.97, AUC-ROC = 1.00). Feature extraction analysis highlighted VGG16’s ability to capture hierarchical disease-specific patterns (score = 0.95), and error- and variance-based assessment confirmed minimal prediction errors (MAE = 0.06, RMSE = 0.16, Explained Variance = 0.90, MBD = − 0.02). Confusion matrix analysis revealed only a small number of misclassifications (4 false negatives and 9 false positives), demonstrating excellent generalization. Grad-CAM heatmaps, t-SNE visualization, and learning curves confirmed lesion-focused predictions and feature separability. Two-year field trials (2023 and 2024) validated precision fungicide application (Azoxystrobin 18.2% + Difenoconazole 11.4% SC), reducing disease severity to ≈ 10% PDI (86.2% reduction) and increasing grain yield to 83.7 q/ha (C: B ratio 1:2.41). The Streamlit-based DSS provides actionable, real-time advisories, offering a scalable AI platform for automated disease detection and precision agriculture in maize. The proposed framework can be extended to other foliar diseases and integrated with IoT-based sensing for region-wide advisory systems.

Fungi belonging to the genus Neosartorya (teleomorph of Aspergillus spp.) are of great concern in the production and storage of berries and fruit-based products, mainly due to the production of thermoresistant ascospores that cause food spoilage and possible secretion of mycotoxins. We initially tested the antifungal effect of six natural extracts against 20 isolates of Neosartorya spp. using a traditional inhibition test on Petri dishes. Tested isolates did not respond uniformly, creating 5 groups of descending sensitivity. Ten isolates best representing of the established sensitivity clusters were chosen for further investigation using a Biolog™ MT2 microplate assay with the same 6 natural extracts. Additionally, to test for metabolic profile changes, we used a Biolog™ FF microplate assay after pre-incubation with marigold extract. All natural extracts had an inhibitory effect on Neosartorya spp. growth and impacted its metabolism. Lavender and tea tree oil extracts at a concentration of 1000 µg mL −1 presented the strongest antifungal effect during the inhibition test, however all extracts exhibited inhibitory properties at even the lowest dose (5 µg mL −1 ). The fungal stress response in the presence of marigold extract was characterized by a decrease of amino acids and carbohydrates consumption and an uptake of carboxylic acids on the FF microplates, where the 10 studied isolates also presented differences in their innate resilience, creating 3 distinctive sensitivity groups of high, average and low sensitivity. The results confirm that natural plant extracts and essential oils inhibit and alter the growth and metabolism of Neosartorya spp. suggesting a possible future use in sustainable agriculture as an alternative to chemical fungicides used in traditional crop protection.