Callose-containing deposits in relation to root-hair infections of Alnus rubra by Frankia

Abstract

Light microscopy, aniline-blue fluorescence histochemistry, and transmission electron microscopy were used to elucidate the nature of localized wall deposition in infected and uninfected root hairs on nodulated roots of Alnus rubra Bong, inoculated with the nitrogen-fixing symbiont, Frankia HFPAr13. Callose-containing papillae were found only in epidermal hair cells and not in cortical or vascular tissue. At the site of successful root-hair wall penetration, transfer cell-like wall ingrowths were elaborated, but callose was not detected. At sites of arrested root-hair infections, complex deposits consisting of callose, fibrillar components, and electron-dense material surrounded the incipient hyphal infection. The cytoplasm of root hairs containing arrested infections was deteriorated compared with successfully infected root hairs.