Histological changes at the seedling growth (Z12) and stem elongation (Z31) stages after Tilletia controversa infection

Abstract

Tilletia controversa Kühn is the causal agent of dwarf bunt disease in wheat. Understanding the infection of T. controversa is of practical and scientific importance for disease management. Here, we used scanning electron microscopy to characterize the histological changes at the seedling (Z12) and stem elongation stages (Z31) in resistant and susceptible wheat cultivars after T. controversa infection. At the seedling stage (Z12), the structure of stem and mesophyll cells slightly deformed after pathogen infection, but this deformation was greater in the susceptible cultivar than in the resistant cultivar. At the stem elongation stage (Z31), the structures of root parenchyma and epidermal cells were deformed more than at the seedling stage (Z12) for both the resistant and susceptible cultivars.