Abstract
The mode of attack and the infection structures of the necrotrophic mycoparasite, Pythium acanthicum, as well as the responses of various fungal hosts to parasitism were studied using both electron and light microscopy. Many taxonomically distinct fungal hosts were used, though Phycomyces blakesleeanus, Pythium aphanidermatum, Rhizoctonia solani and a basidiomycete identified as Corticium sensu lato were studied in greatest detail. Parasitism was by direct penetration of the fungal host without appressorium formation by the parasite. The host's cells responded to contact by P. acanthicum by forming papillae. The morphological features of the papillae varied with the particular host. In P. blakesleeanus they were comprised of vesicles and segments of cytoplasm entrapped in a fibrillo-granular matrix, while in R. solani and the Corticium basidiomycete they contained considerable amounts of electron-opaque and electron-translucent material. Evidence for both mechanical and enzymatic penetration of the host fungi by the parasite are presented. Details of host wall and septum penetration by the parasite are presented using time-lapse light microscopy with in vivo systems. Many of these stages of parasitism were examined ultrastructurally. Some comparisons of these mycoparasitic relationships are discussed in relation to what is known from the literature about phytoparasitic interactions.
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Hoch, H.C., Fuller, M.S. Mycoparasitic relationships. Arch. Microbiol. 111, 207–224 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00549358
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00549358