Morphology and Cytology of Tilletia caries and T. controversa in Axenic Culture

Abstract

On a wheat-based medium, the pathogenic phase of the common and dwarf bunt fungi grew slowly at 15-18 C and continued to produce massive quantities of teliospores in all subcultures for over 2 years. At warmer temperatures or on a chemically defined medium, the teliosporogenic colonies reverted to haploid mononucleate colonies. The hyphae of the teliosporogenic colonies were stained with a modified Giemsa technique and found to be thick, contorted, highly branched and short celled with usually one or two nuclei per cell. In contrast, the haploid mononucleate hyphae were thinner, straighter, and longer and never contained more than one nucleus per cell. The vegetative hyphae of T. caries and T. controversa were indistinguishable. Teliospores, formed at the terminal end of binucleate hyphae, were initially binucleate but became mononucleate before the mature cell wall formed.

Identification of Neolithic diet by the morphology of the starch grains of dental calculus found in the Dehesilla Cave (Cadiz – South of the Iberian Peninsula)

“…could also be a good candidate, but its teliospores are larger [ca. 16-24 µm (Trione 1974;Pimentel et al 2000;Župunski et al 2012)] so this would be di cult unless the specimen photographed was quite immature, which is not probable. It is rather unlikely that this last type of spores belongs to Puccinia Pers., a genus that commonly infects wheat, causing rust.…”

DWARF BUNT: Politics, Identification, and Biology

“…In axenic culture, Trione (53) found that the vegetative hyphae of T. caries and T. controversa had the same morphology. However, enzymatic studies of the teliospores of these two species suggested that there are some definite differences.…”