A histological study of interactions between avirulent races of stem rust and wheat containing resistance genes Sr5, Sr6, Sr8, or Sr22

Primary leaves of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) with and without resistance genes Sr5, Sr6, Sr8, or Sr22 were inoculated with avirulent races of stem rust (Puccinia graminis Pers. f. sp. tritici Eriks. & E. Henn.) and examined by fluorescence microscopy. In leaves containing the Sr5 gene for resistance, both epidermal and mesophyll cells fluoresced when interacting with the fungus, indicating incompatibility. In leaves containing the Sr6 gene, interacting epidermal cells did not fluoresce and incompatibility was expressed only in mesophyll cells.When the effect of the Sr5 gene was studied in leaves with different genetic backgrounds, it was found that most colonies developed only one or two haustorial mother cells in leaves containing this gene in Prelude, Marquis, or Reliance backgrounds, when examined up to 72 h after incubation. Conversely, in leaves with the Chinese Spring background, one-third of the colonies continued to grow and they produced macroscopically visible lesions. Our observations indicated that the Chinese Spring genotype partially altered the expression of the Sr5 gene in mesophyll but not in epidermal cells. In contrast, the Sr6 gene was more effective in the Chinese Spring background than in the Prelude background.Rust development in leaves with or without the Sr8 gene was the same up to 60 h after incubation, when incompatibility in resistant plants was first detected by the appearance of fluorescing host cells. By 72 h, mean colony size in resistant leaves was smaller than that in susceptible leaves, evidently because growth of runner hyphae was inhibited. Apparently, the P8 gene for avirulence was not expressed until colonies had reached considerable size. In leaves containing the Sr22 gene for resistance, the sequence of histological events was similar to that in leaves containing Sr8, but fluorescing host cells appeared later (72 h) and colony growth was inhibited only at 96 h after incubation. In both of these interactions, fluorescing host cells developed at the periphery of colonies when incompatibility was expressed. The host-parasite interaction in cells invaded before that time remained compatible even at later stages of colony development. In leaves containing the Sr5 or the Sr8 gene, but not in those with the Sr6 gene, the growth of some colonies was inhibited although they were not associated with fluorescing host cells. Evidently, host-cell necrosis was closely associated with reduced fungal growth in interactions involving Sr6, but not in interactions involving the resistance genes Sr5 and Sr8.