Isoenzyme analysis of teliospores from species of Anthracoidea parasitic on Carex species

Abstract

The smut sori of five Anthracoidea species, A. echinospora, A. heterospora, A. buxbaumii, A. limosa, and A. paniceae, removed from infected inflorescences of 5 Carex host plant species collected from 17 natural Finnish populations, were surveyed by isozyme analysis. The protein extracts of individual sori, containing teliospores (smut spores), together with uninfected utricles, were subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and stained for esterase and four peptidase enzymes. Single sori, representing individual infection units, were sufficient to reveal considerable esterase and peptidase isozyme activities, whereas little or no activity was seen in the control utricle extracts. High levels of genetic variation as expressed by the detection of multiple loci and allelism were recorded between species and various populations, but variation within populations was lower. Peptidase banding patterns, in particular, proved to be useful in differentiating species: A. heterospora and A. echinospora, parasitic on the same plant, were clearly distinguished by their isozyme patterns, and the three remaining smuts belonging to the subgenus Proceres could be separated from one another. One morphological character, presence of numerous thick internal swellings in the cell walls of teliospores, seemed to correlate well with banding pattern differences in A. heterospora. Key words: isozymes, electrophoresis, Anthracoidea, Carex, chemotaxonomy.