Responses of Erysiphe graminis germlings to contact with artificial and host surfaces

Abstract

Germling development by Erysiphe graminis f. sp. hordei was compared between conidia held in a simulated air-borne state on microthreads constructed from safety-line threads produced by orb--weaving spiders ( Araneus diadematus), and conidia inoculated onto glass, agar, or living or dead barley coleoptile epidermes. Suspended conidia germinated but generally produced only multiple short germ tubes. Conidia on living or dead coleoptiles, bathed from beneath with 0.01 m Ca(NO 3) 2 solution, generally produced one short germ tube and a second germ tube which elongated and formed a normal appressorium. On glass and agar, multiple short germ tubes were sometimes formed but long germ tubes were formed less frequently than on host epidermis. When conidia with short germ tubes were transferred from microthreads to coleoptiles, they produced a long germ tube which differentiated an appressorium. Conidia with a single short germ tube were also transferred from microthreads so that only the tip of the short germ tube was in contact with a leaf epidermal strip layed on agar, whilst the conidium rested on the agar. Long germ tubes were formed more frequently by such conidia than by controls which had no contact with the leaf epidermis. This suggested that a stimulus causing elongation of the second tube was perceived through the short germ tube in contact with the epidermal strip. Where long germ tubes made contact with the epidermal strip, normal appressoria were formed more frequently than where the long tube made contact with the agar surface alone. The results indicate that germlings develop through distinct stages in response to particular stimuli.