Ultrastructure of penetration of Phaseolus spp. by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
The infection of leaf and stem tissues of Phaseolus by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum was studied using electron microscopy. Direct entry of the intact plant surface was achieved by hyphae from simple or compound appressoria. A closely appressed hyphal tip developed an electron-lucent region at the apex, in which a plasmalemmal invagination formed. This invagination surrounded a region of extracytoplasmic vesicular material which penetrated the cuticle during invasion. Penetration occurred by a narrow infection peg which passed through the cuticle via a narrow pore and caused little change in cuticle integrity. Once the cuticle was breached, a walled subcuticular vesicle developed from which infection hyphae spread laterally. Destruction of the epidermal cell walls was both rapid and extensive. Leaf and stem colonization occurred by intercellular growth of undifferentiated hyphae accompanied by cellular necrosis in advance of the mycelial front.