Fungal development and callose deposition in compatible and incompatible interactions in melon infected with powdery mildew

Abstract

Two post-haustorial resistance mechanisms (types I and II) against powdery mildew, caused by Podosphaera xanthii, have been described previously in melon according to the arresting of fungal development and the timing of hypersensitive response (HR) in host cells. In our work, host-pathogen interactions between races 1, 2, and 5 of Podosphaera and several melon accessions carrying different resistance genes, have been characterized by observing several parameters, such as the number of fungal penetration points with callose accumulation, the number of epidermal cells with callose accumulation in their cell walls, and the number of conidiophores developed. Influence of temperature was observed in some cases affecting the timing of fungal development arrest. According to our results, besides the compatible interaction, four different resistance behaviors in the plant–pathogen interaction have been observed herein: type I and II, as described previously, as well as an earlier and a later type II: IIa and IIb, respectively. Melon genotypes showing post-haustorial resistance mechanism types IIa and IIb against powdery mildew, seem to show different behavior according to temperature, affecting fungal development, mainly those genotypes carrying QTL of linkage group V for powdery mildew resistance, such as “TGR-1551”.