Phytopathogenic fungal species can cause enormous losses in quantity and quality of crop yields and this is a major economic issue in the global agricultural sector. Precise and rapid detection and identification of plant infecting fungi are essential to facilitate effective management of disease. DNA-based methods have become popular methods for accurate plant disease diagnostics. Recent developments in standard and variant polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays including nested, multiplex, quantitative, bio and magnetic-capture hybridization PCR techniques, post and isothermal amplification methods, DNA and RNA based probe development, and next-generation sequencing provide novel tools in molecular diagnostics in fungal detection and differentiation fields. These molecular based detection techniques are effective in detecting symptomatic and asymptomatic diseases of both culturable and unculturable fungal pathogens in sole and co-infections. Even though the molecular diagnostic approaches have expanded substantially in the recent past, there is a long way to go in the development and application of molecular diagnostics in plant diseases. Molecular techniques used in plant disease diagnostics need to be more reliable, faster, and easier than conventional methods. Now the challenges are with scientists to develop practical techniques to be used for molecular diagnostics of plant diseases. Recent advancement in the improvement and application of molecular methods for diagnosing the widespread and emerging plant pathogenic fungi are discussed in this review.

植物病原性真菌物种会导致作物产量和质量上的巨大损失，这是全球农业领域的主要经济问题。准确，快速地检测和鉴定植物感染真菌对于促进疾病的有效管理至关重要。基于DNA的方法已成为用于精确植物病害诊断的流行方法。标准和变异聚合酶链反应（PCR）分析的最新进展包括嵌套，多重，定量，生物和磁捕获杂交PCR技术，后期和等温扩增方法，基于DNA和RNA的探针开发以及下一代测序提供了新颖的工具在真菌检测和分化领域的分子诊断中具有重要意义。这些基于分子的检测技术可有效检测单一感染和合并感染中可培养和不可培养真菌病原体的有症状和无症状疾病。尽管分子诊断方法在最近已大大扩展，但是在植物病害中进行分子诊断的开发和应用还有很长的路要走。与常规方法相比，用于植物疾病诊断的分子技术需要更可靠，更快和更容易。现在，科学家面临的挑战是开发用于植物病害分子诊断的实用技术。在这篇综述中讨论了分子生物学方法的改进和应用的最新进展，这些分子方法用于诊断广泛的和新兴的植物病原真菌。