Cytological studies of the hypersensitive death of cowpea epidermal cells induced by basidiospore-derived infection by the cowpea rust fungus

Abstract

The cytological responses to the monokaryotic primary hyphae of the cowpea rust fungus (Uromyces vignae Barcl.) were observed in vein epidermal cells of a resistant and a susceptible cowpea cultivar. Unlike the previously examined response to haustoria of a nonpathogenic powdery mildew fungus, plant cell walls did not become autofluorescent in response to fungal penetration, and the primary hypha only rarely became encased. Following fungal penetration, the response of invaded cells of the resistant, intact plant could be divided into the following stages: (I) cytoplasmic streaming normal; (II) cytoplasmic streaming slow or stopped, Brownian motion of particles visible in the vacuole, granulated cytoplasm aggregated along the cell walls, some host nuclei disappeared; and (III) protoplast collapsed. Epidermal tissue of the resistant cultivar did not exhibit stages II–III when detached and mounted in water 12 h after inoculation and examined 9 h later. The frequency of stage III increased when the tissue was mounted in CaCl2, Ca(NO3)2, and KNO3, but only in a kinetin solution did it approximate that in attached tissue. Although kinetin inhibited fungal growth in both the resistant and the susceptible cultivar, the hypersensitive response occurred only in the former, suggesting that kinetin affects the hypersensitive response directly rather than through its inhibitory effect on the fungus. Key words: cowpea, Vigna unguiculata, cowpea rust fungus, Uromyces vignae (Barcl.), hypersensitivity.