Plant Pathogens and Fungal Endophytes Flashcards
How much of global crop losses is due to pests?
40%, fungi account for 2/3 of that
How much rice is lost per year due to fungal infection?
50 million tonnes
What percent of wheat is susceptible to emerging fungal pathogens?
90%
What are biotrophs?
Fungi that derive nutrients from the living cells of a host
They tend to be obligate and have specialized structures for nutrient absorption
What are hemibiotrophs?
Fungi that are pathogens and establish as biotrophs and later switch to being nectrotrophs
What are necrotrophs?
Fungi that kill the cells of a living host and utilize their remains as food
What nutritional lifestyle are NOT included in plant pathogens?
Saprotrophs which are decomposers of already dead organic matter
What is the obligacy and host range of biotrophs?
Specialized, obligate
Narrow range
What is the obligacy and host range of necrotrophs?
Unspecialized, facultative
Broad or narrow range
What is the state of the host on entry and axenic culturability of biotrophs?
All ages; in possession of host defense
Not easy and sometimes not yet possible
What is the state of the host on entry and axenic culturability of necrotrophs?
Often immature, overmature, or damaged
Easy
What is the entry into the host, production of appressoria and haustoria, and damage to host tissues of biotrophs?
Specialized, like direct penetration of the cell walls
Appressoria or appressoria-like structures are evident; haustoria is generally present
Little damage in the compatible host
What is the entry into the host, production of appressoria and haustoria, and damage to host tissues of necrotrophs?
Unspecialized; via wounds or natural openings
Not usually any appressoria or haustoria
Rapid cell death of the host tissues
What is the production of lytic enzymes, production of toxins, survival following host death, control by resistance/susceptibility genes, and host defense pathways like in biotrophs?
Lytic enzymes are localized to hyphae and limited in quantity
Toxins are not usually produced
They have little saprotrophic ability, they often survive as dormant spores following host death
PRR proteins; R gene products
Host defense pathways are NPR1; salicylic acid
What is the production of lytic enzymes, production of toxins, survival following host death, control by resistance/susceptibility genes, and host defense pathways like in necrotrophs?
Production of lytic enzymes is dependent on the mode of killing, often copious doing massive damage
Toxins produced dependent on the mode of killing and are often produced acting relatively locally or spread extensively in the xylem; some produce host-specific toxins
Can grow saprotrophically following host death
PRR proteins; host-specific toxin binding susceptibility gene products
Host defense pathways are COI1/EIN2; jasmonic acid/ethylene
What is the disease life cycle?
Arrival
Attachment
Entry
Host recognition
establishment and symptom development
Exit and Survival
How do non-motile spores undergo arrival?
They must wait for the plant to reach them vis roots and shoots
How do motile spores undergo arrival?
They are attracted to their hosts
How do some fungi arrive?
By growing towards their hosts as mycelia or being delivered by other infected plant parts
Which fungi are incapable of spreading through the soil?
Biotrophs, hemibiotrophs, and most necrotrophs
How do fungi attach and enter their host?
They enter through wounds, natural openings, or intact surfaces
Penetration through intact surfaces involves appressoria
What does appressoria involve?
High turgor pressure at the penetrating tip
How do necrotrophs establish via damping off?
The fungi secrete toxins and lytic enzymes
Pectolytic enzymes attack cell walls and cause plants to lose/ooze cytoplasm
Watery plant surfaces involved in damping-off diseases
How do necrotrophs establish via wilts?
Other types of necrotrophs enter vascular systems and inject toxins into the vasculature
Low-weight toxins are transported to the leaves and shut down the stomata and transpiration
These mechanisms lead to wilt diseases
How do biotrophs establish?
Their enzymatic secretion is more localized
Hyphae spread through the plant and may take up nutrients either on the surface or through haustoria
They are nutrient sinks for the plant