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Degenerative changes in the epidermal cell wall of Allium cepa caused by Botrytis allii: Loss of dry mass, pectin, and cellulose in halos

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Abstract

Halos detected using interference microscopy (even- and fringle-field modes with monoand poly-chromatic light) around penetration sites of Botrytis allii in cell walls of normal and protoplast-free outer epidermal tissue of white, yellow, and red onions were alike. Halos in protoplast-free cell walls contained 33% less dry mass than areas of these walls adjacent to halos (quantitative interference miscroscopy with 546 nm light in the even-field mode). Halos were significantly larger in the white onion than in the yellow and red varieties. The loss of cell wall dry mass during the production of halos involved the loss of pectin and cellulose. We infer that this is caused by enzymes released from the pathogen. Cuticle degradation at penetration sites was not observed.

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Shumway, C.R., Russo, V.M. & Pappelis, A.J. Degenerative changes in the epidermal cell wall of Allium cepa caused by Botrytis allii: Loss of dry mass, pectin, and cellulose in halos. Mycopathologia 101, 47–52 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00455668

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