Chemotaxonomic and ultrastructural studies on three species of Tilletia occurring on wheat

Abstract

Electron microscopic investigations and chemical analyses were made on the spores of three species of Tilletia. Frozen-etched preparations examined in the electron microscope revealed that the spore walls of both T. foetida (smooth external surface) and T. caries (reticulate surface with some hair-like projections) contain two layers. The spore wall of T. controversa (complex reticulate surface with many hair-like projections) contains three layers. The outer layer in T. controversa has granular regions which form a reticulated pattern on the surface. The hydrocarbon content of the three Tilletia species was essentially the same. The compounds in benzene and the methanol (free fatty acids) fractions gave distinct gas chromatographic patterns for each of the three species. T. foetida was the highest in saturated fatty acids with T. controversa second followed by T. caries. The reverse situation existed with respect to the unsaturated fatty acids.