Browsing by Subject "Phloem"

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Morphological and chemical plant properties mediate host plant selection of whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae)
(2021) Stoll, Nina Sara; Zebitz, Claus P. W.
Whiteflies are among the most important pests causing severe damage to numerous cultivated and ornamental plants worldwide. The present dissertation comprises four studies and contributes to the knowledge of the host plant selection process by whiteflies. In the first study, host preferences were determined in dual choice tests for Aleyrodes proletella (L.), Bemisia tabaci (Genn.), and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westw.) on several host plants. On the one hand, this study extends the knowledge on the food spectrum of these economically important pests; on the other hand, the results highlight the host adaptation of whiteflies. The second study elucidated potential sources of host plant resistance against A. proletella, B. tabaci, and T. vaporariorum by recording their probing and feeding behaviour on two host plants each using the electrical penetration graph (EPG) method. It is concluded that whiteflies decide upon host plant acceptance by evaluation of multiple plant factors located in epidermal and/or mesophyll tissues of leaves as well as in the phloem sap of plants. Moreover, epicuticular leaf waxes are a key factor in the host selection process of A. proletella. It is hypothesized that constituents of the leaf surface wax act as stimulants promoting leaf penetration and phloem accession. The findings of this study shed light on the whitefly-host adaptation. The goal of the third study was to identify the role of epicuticular leaf waxes of several Brassica cultivars in the host selection process of A. proletella. For this purpose, dual choice tests were carried out on both waxy and dewaxed plant leaves as well as on Parafilm® treated with different leaf wax extracts. Also, life-history traits were monitored on waxy and dewaxed leaves, and the feeding activity of A. proletella was recorded on Parafilm® with and without leaf wax extracts. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging was used to visualize epicuticular leaf waxes on the plant surface. Finally, it was proved that leaf surface waxes of host plants promote feeding and act as phagostimulants. Although the wax compounds mediating host plant selection remain unknown, these findings offer breeding potential for resistant crop cultivars. In the fourth study, the influence of free phloem amino acids on the host plant selection of T. vaporariorum was investigated. Via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), the amino acid profiles in the phloem sap of six vegetable crops varying in their host plant attractiveness were analysed. Subsequently, stepwise multiple regressions of the relative amino acid compositions and the pre-determined host plant preferences were performed. To verify the contribution of single amino acids on host choice, dual choice tests on sucrose media with and without added single amino acids were carried out. Single amino acids play an active role in phagostimulation, whereas some amino acids exert strong inhibitory effects. This indicates that the dominant presence of such amino acids might reduce phloem sap uptake, thus contributing to host plant resistance towards T. vaporariorum. Overall, this research compared the host selection process of three whitefly species to identify their underlying mechanisms. It is hypothesized that the observed host selection strategies are the result of evolutionary adaptations between whiteflies and their host plants. Depending on the occupied ecological niche, species-specific host plant ranges of varying complexity were formed. Accordingly, the host selection process of the more specialised species A. proletella is particularly efficient by consideration of characteristic leaf surface wax stimuli. In contrast, host selection of the extreme generalists B. tabaci and T. vaporariorum is regulated by simple gustatory stimuli in order to take advantage of the host diversity they are offered. The findings of this research provide the basis for new approaches to optimizing breeding programs for whitefly resistant crops.
Strategies and mechanisms of cellular interaction between the parasitic weed Orobanche cumana WALLR. and its host Helianthus annuus L.
(2020) Krupp, Anna Clarissa; Spring, Otmar
Sunflower broomrape, Orobanche cumana WALLR., is a root parasitic plant causing considerable yield losses in sunflower cultivation in Europe, North Africa and Asia. Comprehensive knowledge about early interaction stages between host and parasite is necessary to find new ways of controlling this weed. In this thesis, three aspects regarding the biology of O. cumana were studied: 1) the chemotropism of O. cumana germtubes which bend towards the host root, 2) the development of O. cumana on resistant and susceptible sunflower lines and 3) the development of the phloem connection between the O. cumana haustorium and the sunflower host root. Sesquiterpene lactones in sunflower root exudates act as germination stimulants for O. cumana. As sesquiterpene lactones are known inhibitors of plant elongation growth and seem to play a role in the phototropic curvature of sunflower hypocotyls, a chemotropism bioassay on water agar was established to test if they also serve as chemotropic signals for the host-finding of O. cumana germtubes. When sesquiterpene lactone containing sunflower root exudate, sunflower seed oil extract or the sesquiterpene lactone reference costunolide were applied on filter discs, 70 % of the germtubes showed orientation towards them. The artificial strigolactone GR24, however, did not induce chemotropism. A concentration gradient of sesquiterpene lactones exudated from the host root is likely to be responsible for a stronger inhibition of elongation growth on the host-facing flank of the germtube. This would confer a double role of sesquiterpene lactones from root exudates in the sunflower-broomrape-interaction, namely as germination stimulants and as chemotropic signals. One way of controlling O. cumana is the cultivation of resistant sunflower lines. However, this resistance is rapidly overcome by more aggressive pathotypes of the parasite. Therefore, the resistance or tolerance reaction of the sunflower genotype T35001 was investigated in comparison to six other sunflower genotypes with different resistance characteristics. The development of O. cumana was monitored in a root chamber system which allowed permanent assessment of germination, attachment and tubercle formation in the different host-parasite-combinations. All seven tested sunflower lines induced germination and attachment of O. cumana, independent of the expected resistance or susceptibility of the host. A difference between compatibility or incompatibility of the interactions was only observed at the tubercle stage. On T35001, tubercles never occurred, neither in root chamber nor in pot experiments. To find out why the development stopped before the tubercle stage, samples of sunflower roots with attached O. cumana seedlings were analysed by bright field-, fluorescence- and transmission electron microscopy. Histological studies revealed that O. cumana penetrated the host root, but never reached the host’s vascular bundle. The root cortex cells surrounding the Orobanche haustorium showed no ultrastructural changes such as cell wall thickening. Fluorescence microscopy revealed no callose depositions or signs of phytoalexin release. However, ultrastructural examination of the host-parasite-interface showed degeneration processes in both cortex and haustorial cells. Cortex cells were flooded with bacteria, haustorium cells showed degeneration of cytoplasm and nuclei. The resistance mechanism that prevented further development of the O. cumana haustorium did not express itself in a histologically visible way. As holoparasite, O. cumana acquires its entire demand for water, minerals and organic nutrients from the host’s vascular system. The development of the xylem connection between O. cumana and sunflower had previously been reported, but the phloem connection is far more relevant for the parasite in terms of organic nutrients. Accordingly, the ultrastructure of the phloem connection between the haustorium of young O. cumana tubercles and the sunflower root was examined. Parasite and host tissues were intermingled at the contact site and difficult to distinguish, but sieve-tube elements of O. cumana and sunflower could be differentiated according to their plastid ultrastructure. While sieve-element plastids of O. cumana were larger, often irregular in shape and contained few, small starch inclusions, sieve-element plastids of the host were significantly smaller, always round with more and larger starch inclusions. This made it possible to trace the exact contact site of host and parasite sieve elements to show a direct symplastic phloem connection between the two species. The interspecific sieve plate showed more callose on the host side. This allowed detection of newly formed plasmodesmata between host sieve-tube elements and parenchymatic parasite cells, thus showing that undifferentiated cells of the parasite can connect to fully differentiated sieve elements of sunflower.