Plants’ Fungal Diseases and Phenolics Response

Plants are susceptible to pathogens like fungi, which reduce plant survival and cause losses in yield and fruit quality. However, pathogens are inhibited as plants defend various mechanisms such as increased lignin biosynthesis, hydrolysis of cell walls, and the production of phenolic compounds. Phenolic compounds synthetized as second metabolites are accumulated in plants by fungi such as Fusarium, Alternaria alternata, and others. Furthermore, phenolic compounds possess antifungal activity, which could be attributed to several mechanisms. In this sense, investigations show that phenolic compounds affect fungal growth due to the plasma membrane disruption, as well as inhibited fungi cell wall and inhibited fungi cell division. Also, phenolic compounds induce the mitochondrial dysfunction of fungi and inhibit RNA and protein synthesis. In this work, we present the most relevant report on plants affected by fungi and its relation to the phenolic compounds’ response.