Histological studies on host-cell necrosis conditioned by the Sr6 gene for resistance in wheat to stem rust

Abstract

Seedlings of resistant (Sr6) and susceptible (sr6) near-isogenic lines of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were inoculated with a race of stem rust (Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. & E. Henn.) that was avirulent on the line with Sr6 and they were kept at 19, 25, 26, and 27 °C. Fluorescence microscopy was used to detect autofluorescing necrotic host cells and rust colonies after these were stained with a fiuorochrome (Calcofluor White M2R New).In leaves containing the Sr6 gene, a smaller percentage of colonies grown at 25 °C had necrotic cells associated with them than those that were grown at 19 °C. The incidence of colony-associated necrosis in these leaves could be further reduced by increasing the temperature to 26 °C and 27 °C. Similarly, the number of necrotic host cells per colony decreased with an increase in temperature. Colonies in genotypically resistant leaves were usually smaller than those in genotypically susceptible leaves, but the differences in colony sizes between these two lines decreased at the higher temperatures.When infected plants containing the Sr6 gene were kept for varying times at 25 °C and then were transferred to 19 °C, there was significantly less fungal growth and more necrosis than in plants kept continuously at 25 °C. This necrosis occurred largely in those cells that were invaded after the transfer to 19 °C, when the Sr6 gene was activated.