Infection Process of Alfalfa Root Rot Caused by <i>Fusarium acuminatum</i>
Le Wang,
Jianfeng Yang,
Ruifang Jia,
Zhengqiang Chen,
Na Wang,
Jie Wu,
Fangqi Chen,
Yuanyuan Zhang,
Kejian Lin
Affiliations
Le Wang
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Jianfeng Yang
College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
Ruifang Jia
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Zhengqiang Chen
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Na Wang
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Jie Wu
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Fangqi Chen
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Yuanyuan Zhang
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Kejian Lin
Key Laboratory of Biohazard Monitoring and Green Prevention and Control for Artificial Grassland, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Institute of Grassland Research of CAAS, Hohhot 010010, China
Fusarium spp. can cause root rot in alfalfa, leading to the death of the whole plant, which seriously affects the yield and quality of alfalfa. This study used a Fusarium acuminatum strain labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) to observe the infection process of F. acuminatum on alfalfa by confocal fluorescence microscopy. The aim of this study was to reveal the infection mechanism of alfalfa Fusarium root rot at the cellular histological level. The results showed that conidia of F. acuminatum attached to the surface of the root and germinated at one day post-inoculation, the mycelium then entered the vascular bundle tissue of the alfalfa root at 5 days post-inoculation, reached the base of the plant stem at 14 days post-inoculation, and colonized the stem of the first and second compound leaf at 28 and 49 days post-inoculation, respectively. Moreover, the experiment, which sprayed a spore suspension, showed that the conidia of F. acuminatum could spread through the air to infect the pericarp and seed coat tissue of the pod. For the first time, we report the infection process of alfalfa Fusarium root rot caused by F. acuminatum and clarify that F. acuminatum can initially infect the root tissue of alfalfa, colonize the bottom stem of the plant through systematic infection, and eventually cause the plant to wilt and die. The results reveal the infection mechanism of F. acuminatum at the cell level via histology and provide theoretical support for the development of control strategies and key control technologies for alfalfa root rot.
