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Articles

Eyespot Disease of Sugarcane ¹

INDUCTION OF HOST-SPECIFIC TOXIN AND ITS INTERACTION WITH LEAF CELLS

Division of Plant Industry, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, P.O. Box 1600 Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia

Helminthosporium sacchari produces a toxin which is responsible for the symptoms of eyespot disease in Saccharum officinarum. A rapid and highly repeatable bioassay based on increase in conductivity of tissue leachates showed that the interaction of toxin with sugarcane obeys Michaelis-Menten hyperbolic saturation kinetics. There was no evidence for positive or negative cooperation interaction. Resistant and susceptible cultivars of sugar cane had distinctive conductivity characteristics. Co-cultures of H. sacchari and suspension cultures of sugarcane gave up to a 4,000-fold increase in toxin production.