Reaction of wheat plants and alternative hosts to Magnaporthe oryzae

Abstract

Blast disease, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, has a major impact on wheat farming. The study of plant responses to pathogens has improved the management of this disease. Moreover, it is important to identify potential host plants in the crops’ vicinity and to understand reactions caused by plant-pathogen interactions. The objective of this study was to assess the histopathology of wheat plants, Digitaria insularis and Digitaria sanguinalis inoculated with M. oryzae isolates obtained either rice or wheat plants. Thirty-three days after sowing, greenhouse-grown plants of all three species were inoculated with each M. oryzae isolate. The observed effects (48 hours after inoculation) differed depending on the particular interaction between each pathogen isolate-plant species pair. For instance, wheat and D. sanguinalis had the weakest defensive response against spore germination, production of melanized appressoria, and appressorial penetration, with average values above 87, 90, and 43%, respectively, for these events in these plants. Furthermore, germination and appressoria melanization were more aggressive in the rice isolate than in the wheat isolate. Additionally, evidence for a defensive response (such as cell death) was observed in wheat plants inoculated with rice isolates. However, such a response was absent in plants inoculated using wheat isolates, presumably because pathogen recognition failed.