FusaHelp: a web site program for the morphological identification of Fusarium species
A. Infantino, Alessandro Grottoli, Valentino Bergamaschi, Safa Oufensou, L. W. Burgess, Virgilio Balmas
Abstract
Abstract Fusarium is one of the most important phytopathogenic fungi of agricultural and human concern. More than 300 species have been described, many of which are pathogenic to important crops, flowers, forest trees, animals, and humans. Species belonging to this genus have been detected in all environments: grassland, desert, littoral, agricultural, alpine zones, aquatic, man-made, and hospitals. Despite the importance of molecular techniques for the identification of a fungal species, morphological criteria still have an important role, including for Fusarium species, for which morphological identification of species requires adequate training and experience. In this paper, we present FusaHelp, a computer-based, user-friendly tool for the morphological identification of common Fusarium species, based on the wide experience of the authors who have devoted most of their scientific careers to the identification and characterization of these species. The web-location of FusaHelp ( https://www.fusahelp.com ) will greatly facilitate morphological identification and is intended to provide support for all those people who work with this important genus and need a quick clue on the identification, even incomplete, of the Fusarium species that they are working with.