The past decade has seen fundamental changes in our understanding of powdery mildews (Erysiphales). Research on molecular phylogeny demonstrated that Erysiphales are Leotiomycetes (inoperculate discomycetes) rather than Pyrenomycetes or Plectomycetes. Life cycles are surprisingly variable, including both sexual and asexual states, or only sexual states, or only asexual states. At least one species produces dematiaceous conidia. Analyses of rDNA sequences indicate that major lineages are more closely correlated with anamorphic features such as conidial ontogeny and morphology than with teleomorph features. Development of molecular clock models is enabling researchers to reconstruct patterns of coevolution and host-jumping, as well as ancient migration patterns. Geographic distributions of some species appear to be increasing rapidly but little is known about species diversity in many large areas, including North America. Powdery mildews may already be responding to climate change, suggesting they may be useful models for studying effects of climate change on plant diseases.

中文翻译：

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白粉病：对世界上最常见（至今鲜为人知）植物病原体的综述。

在过去的十年中，我们对白粉病（Erysiphales）的理解发生了根本性变化。分子系统发育研究表明，Erysiphales是Leomyomycetes（不起作用的Discomycetes），而不是Pyrenomycetes或Plectomycetes。生命周期令人惊讶地变化，包括性和无性状态，或仅包括性状态或仅无性状态。至少一种产生皮状分生孢子。对rDNA序列的分析表明，主要谱系与变形特征（如分生孢子的个体发育和形态）之间的相关性比与变型特征更紧密相关。分子时钟模型的发展使研究人员能够重建协同进化和宿主跳跃的模式，以及古老的迁移模式。某些物种的地理分布似乎正在迅速增加，但对包括北美在内的许多大区域的物种多样性知之甚少。白粉病可能已经在应对气候变化，这表明它们可能是研究气候变化对植物病害影响的有用模型。