Naveed Gulzar*, Azra N. Kamili and Manzoor A. Shah
Alternaria solani, the necrotrophic fungal pathogen of Solanaceae family belonging to Dothideomycetes, causing early blight received significant interest among all the fungal pathogens of tomato. The pathogen is widely distributed and is an economically important member of the class Ascomycota. The genus comprises of opportunistic necrotrophic or parasitic pathogens of tomato and relevant species. The carnage by this necrotrophic pathogen accounts for huge and drastic losses to the agriculture production worldwide. It has also been linked to the cosmopolitan decline in wild and cultivated tomato species of the world. In order to overcome the burden of the disease, there is a critical need to develop effective strategies for early blight management. However, in order to handle the disease trouble, there is a fundamental need to be aware of the phylogeny, taxonomy, transmission mechanism of early blight and phytohormone defense signalling implicated in response to disease by plants. So, the collective information regarding early blight disease development must be readily available to the researchers. In this context, this review shall provide an imperative information resource on the whole biological aspect of the fungal pathogen and a way forward to deal with this pathogen efficiently.
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