Ultra-structural Observations of Colletotrichum orbiculare on Cucumber Leaves Pre-treated with Chlorella fusca

Abstract

Chlorella is one of the microorganisms which can live autotrophically by their own photosynthesis. It was previously revealed that pre-treatment of Chlorella fusca caused a suppression of appressorium formation on the cucumber leaves after inoculation with Colletothrichum orbiculare. In this study, the ultrastructures of C. orbiculare on the cucumber leaves pretreated with C. fusca were observed using both scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The SEM images revealed that most fungal conidia and hyphae were attached with lots of C. fusca cells. Also, the conidia could germinate but not form appressorium, which is necessary to penetrate into host tissue. These observations suggested that C. fusca adjoined to the fungus may play a role in suppression of the appressorium formation. On the other hand, the observations of TEM showed no remarkable cytological differences on the ultrastructures of the intracellular hyphae between in the pre-treated and untreated leaves. It seemed that the fungus could grow in the pre-treated plant tissues as in the untreated one. Based on these observations, it is suggested that the suppression of appressorium on the leaf surfaces by the C. fusca cells may be a main cause of the reduction of the anthracnose disease.

Keywords

• Algae
• Anthracnose
• Infection structures
• Scanning electron microscope
• Transmission electron microscope