View source for Plant Disease (2019) 103, 2100-2107

{{Publication
|Publication authors=Fengkun Qi, Lin Zhang, Xiaojie Dong, Hong Di, Jiayue Zhang, Minhao Yao, Ling Dong, Xing Zeng, Xianjun Liu, Zhenhua Wang and Yu Zhou
|Publication date=2019
|dc:title= Analysis of cytology and expression of resistance genes in maize infected with ''[[Sporisorium reilianum]]''
|Publication journal=Plant Disease
|prism:volume=103 (8)
|prism:startingPage=2100
|Last page=2107
|DOI=10.1094/PDIS-09-18-1687-RE
|Publication abstract= Head smut, caused by the fungus ''Sporisorium reilianum'', is a devastating global disease of maize (''Zea mays''). In the present study, maize seedlings were artificially inoculated with compatible mating-type strains of ''S. reilianum'' by needle inoculation of mesocotyls (NIM) or by soaking inoculation of radicles (SIR). After NIM or SIR, Huangzao4 mesocotyls exhibited severe damage with brownish discoloration and necrosis, whereas Mo17 mesocotyls exhibited few lesions. Fluorescence and electron microscopy showed that ''S. reilianum'' infected maize within 0.5 day after SIR and mainly colonized the phloem. With longer incubation, the density of ''S. reilianum'' hyphae increased in the vascular bundles, concentrated mainly in the phloem. In Mo17, infected cells exhibited apoptosis-like features, and hyphae became sequestered within dead cells. In contrast, in Huangzao4, pathogen invasion resulted in autophagy that failed to prevent hyphal spreading. The growth of ''S. reilianum'' hyphae diminished at 6 days after inoculation when expression of the ''R'' genes ''ZmWAK'' and ''ZmNL'' peaked. Thus, 6 days after SIR inoculation might be an important time for inhibiting the progress of ''S. reilianum'' infection in maize. The results of this study will provide a basis for further analysis of the mechanisms of maize resistance to ''S. reilianum''.
|AbstractCC=Yes
|Research topic=resistance/tolerance/defence of host
|Is book=No
}}
{{Pest record
|Pest=Sporisorium reilianum
|Crop=Maize/corn (Zea mays)
|Quarantined=No
}}