Immunofluorescence Microscopy for the Detection and Identification of Propagules ofPhaeolus schweinitziiin Infested Soil

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In liquid culture, the fungus P. schweinitzii, which causes root- and butt-rot of conifers, secretes a number of species-specific and strain-specficic polypeptides which are detectable by dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focussing. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy was used to detect the binding of species specific antisera to these antigens to extracellular macromolecules secreted by the fungus, to the cell surface of basidiospores and chlamydospores, and to the cell surface and cross walls of mycelia. Common antigenic determinants were present in extracellular culture filtrate material and walls of mycelia, chlamydospores and basidiospores. Indirect immunofluorescence, performed by using antisera to culture filtrate molecules, was used to demonstrate the presence of mycelium, and on occasions chlamydospores, in naturally and artificially infested soil samples. This makes possible identification of the kind of propagule most likely to be the source of field isolates of the organisms; this information, which cannot be obtained by using selective media, strongly suggests that the pathogen can survive saprophytically in the soil. In contrast, isolated mycelial cell wall preparations did not prove to be a suitable source of immunogenic material for these studies.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: