Consecutive monitoring of lifelong production of conidia by individual conidiophores of Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei on barley leaves by digital microscopic techniques with electrostatic micromanipulation.

Conidial formation and secession by living conidiophores of Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei on barley leaves were consecutively monitored using a high-fidelity digital microscopic technique combined with electrostatic micromanipulation to trap the released conidia. Conidial chains formed on conidiophores through a series of septum-mediated division and growth of generative cells. Apical conidial cells on the conidiophores were abstricted after the conidial chains developed ten conidial cells. The conidia were electrically conductive, and a positive charge was induced in the cells by a negatively polarized insulator probe (ebonite). The electrostatic force between the conidia and the insulator was used to attract the abstricted conidia from the conidiophores on leaves. This conidium movement from the targeted conidiophore to the rod was directly viewed under the digital microscope, and the length of the interval between conidial septation and secession, the total number of the conidia produced by a single conidiophore, and the modes of conidiogenesis were clarified. During the stage of conidial secession, the generative cells pushed new conidial cells upwards by repeated division and growth. The successive release of two apical conidia was synchronized with the successive septation and growth of a generative cell. The release ceased after 4-5 conidia were released without division and growth of the generative cell. Thus, the life of an individual conidiophore (from the erection of the conidiophore to the release of the final conidium) was shown to be 107 h and to produce an average of 33 conidia. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the direct estimation of life-long conidial production by a powdery mildew on host leaves.

A new spore precipitator with polarized dielectric insulators for physical control of tomato powdery mildew.

ABSTRACT In an attempt to physically protect greenhouse tomato plants from the powdery mildew fungus Oidium neolycopersici, we developed a new electrostatic spore precipitator in which a copper wire conductor is linked to an electrostatic generator and covered with a transparent acrylic cylinder (insulator). The conductor was negatively charged by the generator, and the electrostatic field created by the conductor was used to dielectrically polarize the insulator cylinder. The dielectrically polarized cylinder also produced an electrostatic force without a spark discharge. This force was directly proportional to the potential applied to the conductor and was used to attract conidia of the pathogen. The efficacy of this spore precipitator in protecting hydroponically cultured tomato plants from powdery mildew was evaluated in the greenhouse. The hydroponic culture troughs were covered with a cubic frame installed with the spore precipitator, and the disease progress on precipitator-guarded and unguarded seedlings was traced after the conidia were disseminated mechanically from inoculum on tomato plants. Seedlings in the guarded troughs remained uninfected during the entire experiment, in spite of rapid spread of the disease to all leaves of the unguarded seedlings.

Identification of individual powdery mildew fungi infecting leaves and direct detection of gene expression by single conidium polymerase chain reaction.

ABSTRACT Greenhouse-grown tomato seedlings were inoculated naturally with two genera of powdery mildew conidia forming appressorial germ tubes that could not be differentiated by length alone. For direct identification, single germinated conidia were removed from leaves by means of a glass pipette linked to the manipulator of a high-fidelity digital microscope. This microscope enabled in vivo observation of the fungi without leaf decoloration or fungal staining. The isolated conidia were subjected to PCR amplification of the 5.8S rDNA and its adjacent internal transcribed spacer sequences followed by nested PCR to attain sensitivity high enough to amplify target nucleotide sequences (PCR/nested PCR). Target sequences from the conidia were completely coincident with those of the pathogen Oidium neolycopersici or Erysiphe trifolii (syn. Microsphaera trifolii), which is nonpathogenic on tomato. Using RT-PCR/nested PCR or multiplex RT-PCR/nested PCR, it was possible to amplify transcripts expressed in single conidia. Conidia at pre- and postgermination stages were removed individually from tomato leaves, and two powdery mildew genes were monitored. The results indicated that the beta-tubulin homolog TUB2-ol was expressed at pre- and postgermination stages and the cutinase homolog CUT1-ol was only expressed postgermination. Combining digital microscopic micromanipulation and two-step PCR amplification is thus useful for investigation of individual propagules on the surface of plants.