User:Kranderson719/sandbox
 | This is a user sandbox of Kranderson719. You can use it for testing or practicing edits. This is not the sandbox where you should draft your assigned article for a dashboard.wikiedu.org course. To find the right sandbox for your assignment, visit your Dashboard course page and follow the Sandbox Draft link for your assigned article in the My Articles section. |
Flower-Mimicking Rust Fungi
Several fungal plant pathogens infect a host plant and alter its morphology in some fashion, but few alter the flowers of their hosts. Flower-mimicking rust fungi infect their host which results in the creation of pseudoflowers made by the host to aid the fungi in gamete dispersal for reproduction. These rust fungi are parasites, requiring a living host plant i which to carry out their 5 life stages.
Species
Two species of rust fungi are known to infect and alter their plant host's flower morphology, resulting in the formation of structures on the plant that look similar to true flowers. These two species are Puccinia monoica and Uromyces pisi. Both species are in the same order of fungus, Pucciniales. [1]
Puccinia monoica
Puccinia monoica is a crown rust that infects a range of species in the botanical genus Arabis , within the family Brassicaceae[2] . It also infects species outside of Arabis, notably Boechera stricta.
Uromyces pisi
Uromyces pisi infects a perennial ornamental plant, Euphorbia cyparissias[3] . It is also known to infect plants in the family Fabaceae[4].
Characteristics
Pseudoflowers
Pathogenic rust fungi infect their host plant and induce the formation of pseudoflowers. These pseudoflowers are modified leaves that resemble flowers of another unrelated plant species.[2] The pseudoflowers differ from the host plant flowers in shape, size, color, scent, and nectar produced. These pseudoflowers are formed as yellow rosettes and produce a sweet-smelling nectar. The mimicry expressed here is similar to Dodsonian mimicry in which reproductive flowers are mimicked by another species. However, in Dodsonian mimicry, nectar is not produced by the impostor flower. The pseudoflowers created by these rust fungi create a sweet nectar that attract insect pollinators.
Scent Chemistry
The fragrance of the pseudo-flowers produced by rust fungi is one of the main characteristics to attract 'pollinators'. The chemical compounds that form the fragrance of the rust-fungal pseudo-flower can differ between species. Mass spectrometry and gas chromatography analysis have allowed the identification of different fragrances of these pseudo-flower, and curiously some of them were found to be chemically similar to non-host flowers rather than to host flowers and host vegetation. Fungal pseudo-flower are composed mainly by aromatic alcohols, aldehyde and esters[5]. In P. monoica, the fungal pseudo-flower scent is made of aromatic compounds including phenylacetaldehyde and 2-phenylethyl alcohol; in Uromyces pisi, the fungal pseudo-flower scent is made of compounds including indole and jasmine lactone.[6]
Life Cycle
Puccinia monoica life cycle
Puccinia monoica has a macrocyclic, heterothallic life cycle. Macrocyclic refers to the fungus succesively completing 5 spore states in its life. Heterothallic refers to having two complementary mating types housed in separate organisms. The reproduction of a heterothallic species relies upon a dispersal mechanism in order for outcrossing between the mating types to occur. The life cycle of Puccinia monoica is described in more detail here.
Uromyces pisi life cycle
Uromyces pisi also has a macrocyclic, heterothallic life cycle[7], meaning it successively completes 5 spore stages in a complete life cycle.
Ecology
Pseudoflower-insect interactions
See also
References
Raguso, Robert A., and Barbara A. Roy. "‘Floral’scent production by Puccinia rust fungi that mimic flowers." Molecular Ecology 7.9 (1998): 1127-1136. Roy, B. A. "The effects of pathogen‐induced pseudoflowers and buttercups on each other's insect visitation." Ecology 75.2 (1994): 352-358 Pfunder, Monika, and Bitty A. Roy. "Fungal pseudoflowers can influence the fecundity of insect-pollinated flowers on Euphorbia cyparissias." Botanica Helvetica 116 (2006): 149 - 158. (4) Ngugi, H. K., and Harald Scherm. "Mimicry in plant-parasitic fungi." FEMS Microbiology Letters 257 (2006): 171 - 176. Pfunder, Monika, and Bitty A. Roy. "Pollinator-mediated interactions between a pathogenic fungus, Uromyces pisi (Pucciniaceae), and its host plant, Euphorbia cyparissias (Euphorbiaceae)." American Journal of Botany 87 (2000): 48 - 55. Roy, B. A. "Floral Mimicry by a Plant Pathogen." Nature 362 (1993): 56 - 58. Cano, L.M., et al. "Major Transcriptome Reprogramming Underlies Floral Mimicry Induced by the Rust Fungus Puccinia monoica in Boechera stricta." Plos ONE 8(9) (2013): 1 - 16. Barilli E., Sillero J.C., Prats E., Rubiales D. "Resistance to rusts (Uromyces pisi and U. viciae-fabae) in pea." Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed 50 (2014): 135–143.
- ^ http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/mycologywebpages/NaturalHistoryOfFungi/Pucciniales.html
- ^ a b Roy, B. A. "Floral Mimicry by a Plant Pathogen." Nature 362 (1993): 56 - 58.
- ^ Pfunder, Monika, and Bitty A. Roy. "Pollinator-mediated interactions between a pathogenic fungus, Uromyces pisi (Pucciniaceae), and its host plant, Euphorbia cyparissias (Euphorbiaceae)." American Journal of Botany 87 (2000): 48 - 55.
- ^ Pfunder, Monika; Schürch, Stéphanie; Roy, Barbara A. "Sequence variation and geographic distribution of pseudoflower-forming rust fungi (Uromyces pisi s. lat.) on Euphorbia cyparissias". Mycological Research. 105 (1): 57–66. doi:10.1017/s0953756200003208.
- ^ Raguso, Robert A., and Barbara A. Roy. "‘Floral’scent production by Puccinia rust fungi that mimic flowers." Molecular Ecology 7.9 (1998): 1127-1136.
- ^ Kaiser, Roman (2006-02-10). "Flowers and Fungi Use Scents to Mimic Each Other". Science. 311 (5762): 806–807. doi:10.1126/science.1119499. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 16469916.
- ^ Barilli E., Sillero J.C., Prats E., Rubiales D. "Resistance to rusts (Uromyces pisi and U. viciae-fabae) in pea." Czech J. Genet. Plant Breed 50 (2014): 135–143.