From Herbarium to life: Implications of Reviving Historical Fungi for Modern Plant Pathology and Agriculture

The Green Revolution (GR), characterized by the extensive use of agrochemicals and thecultivation of new plant varieties, significantly altered plant-microorganism interactions.Phytopathogenic fungi pose major challenges to agriculture by reducing crop yield and quality,increasing production costs, and causing economic losses. They also impact food security, globaltrade, and environmental sustainability. Therefore, historical biological collections that preservepre-GR biological diversity are essential for understanding how the intensive agronomicalpractices of the modern era have influenced these interactions. The aim of the current study wasto highlight the importance of a phytopathogenic fungi collection as a vital resource foraddressing present-day plant disease issues for future sustainable agriculture.We successfully revived two museum strains of Botrytis cinerea, collected in the early 1940s,before the onset of GR, and performed phenotypic, whole-genome sequencing, transcriptomics,and metabolomics analyses revealing their unique characteristics. Comparing these historicalstrains with modern laboratory strains validated the authenticity of the historical samples andrevealed significant variations between them. These variations highlight adaptations likely drivenby anthropogenic activities, such as fungicide usage, as well as ecological adaptations, includinghost-specific virulence, pH tolerance, and other environmental factors. The research portrays theimportance of natural history collections, by demonstrating how museum specimens can berevived and analyzed using advanced omic techniques to reveal temporal and spatial changes.The obtained data is crucial for managing and mitigating plant diseases in modern agriculture,tracking and predicting disease outbreaks, conserving biodiversity, and ensuring sustainability.