Read more
Plants interact with a large number of microoganisms which have a major impact on their growth either by establishing mutually beneficial symbiotic relationships or by developing as pathogens at the expense of the plant with deleterious effects. These microorganisms differ greatly not only in their nature (viruses, phytoplasmas, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, ... ) but also in the way they contact, penetrate and invade their host. Histology and cytology have brought an essential contribution to our knowledge of these phenomena. They have told us for instance, how specialized structures of the pathogen are often involved in the adhesion and penetration into the plant, how the interface between both organisms is finely arranged at the cellular level, or what structural alterations affect the infected tissues. They have thus set the stage for the investigations of the underlying molecular mechanisms could be undertaken. Such investigations have been remarkably successful in the recent years, expanding considerably our understanding of plant-microorganism interactions in terms of biochemical changes, rapid modifications of enzymatic activities, coordinated gene activation, signal reception and transduction. Biochemistry, molecular biology and cellular physiology have taken precedence in the phytopathologist's set of methods.
List of contents
Image analysis in biology.- In situ hybridization to RNA in plant biology.- In situ detection of polyphenols in plant-microorganism interactions.- Gold cytochemistry applied to the study of plant defense reactions.- Use of monoclonal antibodies to study differentiation of Colletotrichum infection structures.- The plant cell wall, first barrier or interface for microorganisms: in situ approaches to understanding interactions.- Adhesion of fungal propagules. Significance to the success of the fungal infection process.- Cellular aspects of rust infection structure differentiation. Spore adhesion and fungal morphogenesis.- Structural and functional aspects of mycobiont-photobiont relationships in lichens compared with mycorrhizae and plant pathogenic interactions.- Root defence responses in relation to cell and tissue invasion by symbiotic microorganisms : cytological investigations.- Histology and cytochemistry of interactions between plants and Xanthomonads.- Comparimentalization in trees: new findings during the study of Dutch elm disease.- Virus of plant trypanosomes (Phytomonas spp.).- Plant cell modifications by parasitic nematodes.- In situ detection of grapevine flavescence dorééphytoplasmas and their infection cycle in experimental and natural host plants.- Author Index.
Report
`This book may be interesting not only for scientists or students involved in plant-microorganism interaction but also for those who are concerned with cellular biology especially because of the description of techniques.'
Argonomie, 3 (1997)
