**4. Summary and Conclusions**

The infection mechanism of the plant pathogenic fungus *F. graminearum* is complex and intricate. It involves the production of a germ tube from conidia, the production of CWDEs, and eventually, the production of mycotoxins, chiefly type B trichothecene mycotoxins, DON, and NIV. Within the context of this review article, we regarded the CWDEs and the mycotoxins as pathogenicity and virulence factors which enable *F. graminearum* to gain entry into the plant and advance within the interior of the infected tissue. Our focus was on pathogenicity and virulence factors so far discovered, and we also devoted attention to those discovered using NGS and, to a limited extent, proteomics. We conclude that a multitude of pathogenicity and virulence factors have been discovered, however, more work needs to be done taking advantage of NGS and its companion applications of proteomics. Discovery of more pathogenicity and virulence and factors may facilitate the newer methods of control of *F. graminearum* infection of wheat and DON accumulation, for instance, as it has been shown by Machado et al. [160] using RNAi. Progress on the use of RNAi may depend greatly on the discovery of more pathogenicity and virulence factors of *F. graminearum*.

**Author Contributions:** M.E.R. wrote parts on the use of next generation sequencing in discovering *F. graminearum* pathogenicity and virulence factors. U.V.O. wrote about pathogenicity and virulence factors. C.M.K. wrote about pathogenicity and virulence factors of *F. graminearum*. L.K.L. wrote about next generation sequencing in general. A.A.W. wrote about the significance of NGS in studying fungal pathogenicity and K.N. wrote the remaining parts including the abstract, the introduction and the conclusions, and organized the manuscript to be a coherent article. All the authors participated in the formulation of the concept. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
