Journal article
The infection biology of Fusarium graminearum: Defining the pathways of spikelet to spikelet colonisation in wheat ears
NA Brown, M Urban, AML van de Meene, KE Hammond-Kosack
Fungal Biology | ELSEVIER SCI LTD | Published : 2010
Abstract
Fusarium graminearum is one of the main causal agents of Fusarium Ear Blight on wheat. How the pathogen colonises the entire ear is not known. There is controversy over whether this mycotoxin producing pathogenic fungus invades wheat floral tissue using a necrotrophic or another mode of nutrition. A detailed microscopic investigation has revealed how wild-type fungal hyphae, of the sequenced strain PH-1, colonised susceptible wheat ears and spread from spikelet to spikelet. At the advancing infection front, colonisation of the host cortex occurred ahead of any vascular colonisation and the hyphae adapted to the available intercellular space between host cells. Intercellular hyphae then becam..
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Awarded by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Rothamsted Research Bioimaging for training and Jean Devonshire for her assistance during the SEM study. Amy Freeman assisted in the acquisition of the macroscopic images of the wheat ears and Carlos Bayon for the rht gene analysis. Finally, we would like to thank Professor Nick Read, Professor John Lucas, Dr Sarah Perfect, Dr Jason Rudd and Dr Rohan Lowe, for their excellent advice and guidance and for commenting on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Rothamsted Research receives grant-aided support from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) of the UK. Neil A. Brown was supported by a BBSRC studentship with Syngenta as the CASE partner.