Puccinia melanocephala
| Puccinia melanocephala | ||||||||||||
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Puccinia melanocephala on sugar cane |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Puccinia melanocephala | ||||||||||||
| Sydow & Sydow |
Puccinia melanocephala is a stand fungal art from the order of the rust fungi (Pucciniales). The fungus is an endoparasite of sugar cane ( Saccharum officinarum ) and Erianthus species. Symptoms of infestation by the species are rust-colored spots and pustules on the leaf surfaces of the host plants. Their range includes India and China .
features
Macroscopic features
Puccinia melanocephala can only be recognized with the naked eye from the spore beds protruding on the surface of the host. They grow in nests that appear as yellowish to brown spots and pustules on the leaf surfaces.
Microscopic features
The mycelium of Puccinia melanocephala grows as with all Puccinia TYPES intercellular and forms Saugfäden that grow into the storage tissue of the host. Aecia of the species are not yet known. The cinnamon brown uredia grow on both sides of the host's leaves. Their also cinnamon-brown uredospores are mostly ovate, 28–33 × 18–23 µm in size and finely spiky. The parts of the species are black-brown, exposed early and compact, they grow underneath the leaves. The hazelnut-brown teliospores are two-celled, usually club-shaped and 30–43 × 17–21 µm in size; their stalk is brown and up to 12 µm long.
Species delimitation
Puccinia melanocephala differs from Puccinia kuehnii ( orange rust in English-speaking countries ), which also occurs on sugar cane, in that it forms cephalic paraphyses . The urediniospores are usually smaller than in Puccinia kuehnii and its cell walls are evenly thick. The teliospores of Puccinia melanocephala are pigmented, with the upper cell being dark brown while the lower cell is paler.
distribution
The original distribution area of Puccinia melanocephala extends from India to China . The species occurs wherever sugar cane is grown.
ecology
The host plants of Puccinia melanocephala are sugar cane and Erianthus species from the sweet grass subfamily Panicoideae . The fungus feeds on the nutrients present in the storage tissue of the plants, its spore beds later break through the leaf surface and release spores. The species apparently has a development cycle of which only Telia and Uredia and their host are known so far. Spermogonia and Aecia have not yet been described.
meaning
Together with Puccinia kuehnii, Puccinia melanocephala is the most important harmful rust fungus in sugar cane cultivation. It was also reportedly used as a biological weapon in Cuba by the US in the 1970s . However, these allegations come only from Cuban sources and have not been confirmed. It is considered likely that two factors came together: On the one hand, spores were spread naturally with the wind from West Africa to the Dominican Republic, where the pathogen was first discovered in the Caribbean. The transport over such long distances could be proven. On the other hand, the rust-prone variant B 4362 was grown on a large scale in Cuba.
literature
- George B. Cummins: The Rust Fungi of Cereals, Grasses and Bamboos . Springer, Berlin 1971, ISBN 3-540-05336-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b L Dixon: Systematic Mycology and Microbiology Laboratory - Invasive Fungi Fact Sheets . In: US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (Ed.): Food Security . August. Retrieved on October 31, 2012. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Frédéric Suffert, Émilie Latxague and Ivan Ding: Plant pathogens as agroterrorist weapons: assessment of the threat for European agriculture and forestry . In: Springer Netherlands (Ed.): Food Security . 1, No. 2, March 11, 2009, pp. 221-232. doi : 10.1007 / s12571-009-0014-2 .
- ↑ Zilinskas RA (1999): Cuban allegations of biological warfare by the United States: assessing the evidence. CRC Crit Rev Microbiol 25 (3): 173-227 doi : 10.1080 / 10408419991299202
