Carbohydrate Interfaces in Plant-Fungal Interactions: A Scoping Review
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Abstract
Carbohydrates play important roles in plant–fungal interactions, contributing to fungal adhesion, immune evasion, and host recognition. During fungal infection in plants, carbohydrate-based structures play a significant role in fungal adhesion, immune evasion, and host recognition. This scoping review aims to consolidate current evidence on the role of carbohydrate interfaces, including both structural polysaccharides and protein-linked carbohydrates, in plant–fungal interactions. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. A total of 451 articles were retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect using keywords such as “carbohydrate”, “fungal”, “glycan”, “infection”, and “plant”, from which 20 articles were selected for analysis based on inclusion criteria. Chitin-related glycans were the most frequently investigated carbohydrate type (n = 10), followed by N-glycans (n = 4) and β-glucans (n = 4), particularly in major crop systems. In contrast, protein-linked carbohydrates, especially N-glycans, remain limited, while studies specifically addressing O-glycans are largely absent. Most research has also focused on staple crops and laboratory-based experimental systems. These gaps suggest the need for greater focus on functional and dynamic analyses of glycan modifications during infection, broader representation of crops, and the application of advanced glycomic and molecular approaches.
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