Tissue culture establishment and in virto studies of the creeping red fescue-didymella festucae interaction

• Main Author: Suprayogi
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/3505

The use of tissue culture to study the underlying mechanism of creeping red fescue-Didymella festucae interaction was investigated using a cell culture-fungal filtrate system. The study included optimization of protocols for tissue culture establishment and maintenance in creeping red fescue, and examination of the response of fescue cell cultures to D. festucae culture filtrate challenge. Studies on tissue culture of creeping red fescue showed that not all cultivar and genotype sources were effective to be used to initiate cell culture materials for the study of creeping red fescue-D. festucae interaction. Among the initiated cell cultures, only the non-regenerable cell cultures of 'Boreal' and 'Cindy' could be used effectively for the above purpose. Growth of fescue cell suspension cultures was significantly suppressed by fungal filtrate challenge. Suppression was higher as concentrations of fungal filtrates were increased. The putative phytotoxic effect of culture filtrate was found to be heat sensitive and unlikely a cell wall component. It has not been determined whether this effect reflects the in planta disease interaction, or whether it is a phenomenon specific to the culture system environment. No significant difference (P < 0.05) was observed between phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity in fungal filtrate-challenged versus control fescue cell cultures. The time course of PAL activity following challenge with fungal filtrates varied extensively from one sample period to the next and could not be used as a marker of the biochemical response of fescue cell cultures