Text for UF/IFAS/Plant Pathology “Plant Pathogen Groups” PowerPoint

Slide Text: The text below is supplementary to what is presented on the slide itself

1 Topics that will be discussed in this powerpoint.

2 Abiotic plant problems are not caused by plant pathogens, but rather are caused by
environmental factors, either natural or man-made.

3 This is no different than with human problems. Many times what we refer to as
human diseases have no pathogen causing the “disease”. These are a few examples
of human problems that would be considered “abiotic”.

4 It is extremely important to know, especially when trying to diagnose the plant

problem, that both biotic and abiotic problems can affect the plant at the same time.
Sometimes they are interacting with each other, but at other times, they are
completely independent of each other.

5 The photos of the palm trees are examples of lightning strikes directly to the trees.
Palms are often the tallest element in the landscape, and they contain more water
than hardwood trees. This is why we believe they are often hit by lightning. Our
beloved pet dog often damages Turfgrass when they urinate. But, we still love them!

6 We love our tropical plants, like bananas, but they are not always well-adapted to our
southern temperate or sub-tropical climates in Florida. In some situations, it is not
the actual temperature that is so damaging, but the sudden, quick drop in
temperature.

7 Sunburned palm leaflets and a sunburned red pepper fruit.

8 A common problem of orchids and other fleshy-leaves plants is oedema. “Water,

water everywhere” is not usually conducive for plant growth.

9 Just as too much water can be problematic, so can too little water. Wilting plants is a
common symptom of drought, but leaf necrosis (dead tissue) is an even better
indicator of drought stress.

10 Six examples of nutrient deficiency symptoms. Some plants, such as palm trees, are
more likely to die from nutrient deficiencies than from diseases, and often the
nutrient deficiency is due to improper fertilization.

11 It is not only herbicides than can damage plants, improper use of fertilizers can cause
problems also.

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12 Diseases are biotic plant problems, as there is a second organism (and sometimes 2 or
3) that are infecting the plant and disrupting its normal appearance and growth.

13 A major concept in plant pathology is referred to as the Plant Disease Triangle. It has
been expanded upon, but it still helps to explain why diseases occur. The idea is that
a specific disease will not occur unless the susceptible host and the pathogen are
interacting within a favorable environment.

14 A crude drawing to illustrate the Plant Disease Triangle. The point is that only when
all 3 components of a disease overlap does disease develop.

15 This slide illustrates that if all 3 components of a disease do NOT overlap, disease does
NOT occur. We will bring in the vector component of some plant pathogens later in
the workshop. For now, we will keep it simple.

16 This is the list of plant pathogens – a wide variety of sizes and lifestyles!

17 First, we will discuss fungi and Oomycetes. As scientists learn more about an
organisms, we reclassify what kingdom it belongs to and expand the number of
kingdoms representing life.

18 Fungi and oomycetes represent many lifestyles. These are the major ones pertinent
to plant pathology.

19 This chart illustrates the differences between oomycote and the “true” fungi. If you
want to learn more about these differences, links are provided in the slide.
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/Oomycetes.aspx
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/IntroOomycetes.aspx

20 These are cool videos of zoospores, which are unique to Oomycota. The top one is 55
seconds. The bottom one is 90 seconds (cool music with this one, so have sound on if
possible).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB4QYN7dlgc (55 sec)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxF8OwDtJh0&ebc=ANyPxKr-
XPjQG4MBmaGz5uf5WqgjD3b5370YlqKjvvIxp1IOGGJso3YgDPyd2RI8niluJ1hxA-
ALaRk9ZdlDQk2P3tGWEQXIkw (90 sec)

21 These are the diseases caused by some Oomycetes.

22 Fun fungal factoids. While fungi are highly abundant on earth and are the major
cause of plant diseases, there are only a few fungi that are known to cause plant
diseases.

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23 More fun fungal factoids. Again, not all fungi associated with plants are pathogens.

24 Endophyte example, which like many relationships, can be good for one organism, but
bad for another. Two examples of beneficial fungal symbiosis.

25 These are the main fungal groups – not all contain plant pathogens. For example, the
arbuscular mycorrhizae of the Glomeromycota are not pathogens.
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/IntroFungi.aspx

26 These are the four fungal phyla that contain plant pathogens.

27 Most plant pathogens are in the Ascomycota phyla. Sex and the Fungi! It can become
very confusing when we start talking about fungal names in the Ascomycota. In the
past, we often used one name for the asexual state and an entirely different one for
the sexual state.

28 Sordaria is not a plant pathogen, but these photos are good illustrations of 8
ascospores in the ascus (bottom photo), with the asci (plural for ascus) emerging from
the ascocarp. The photos on the right illustrate ascospores within asci (top photo)
and individual ascospores of the palm fungus Serenomyces.

29 These are examples of conidia (asexual spores) of different fungal species. All
different shapes and sizes, with and without appendages. Pestalotiopsis conidia have
3 appendages at one end and a short, single one at the opposite end. Lasiodiplodia
conidia start as hyaline (colorless), single-cell structures, but as they age, they darken
and become 2-celled structures. Exserohilum produces large, cigar-shaped conidia.
Some Phomopsis species produce these boomerang-like conidia. Most Fusarium
oxysporum pathogens produce two different types of conidia – macroconidia (the
larger one) and microconidia (the smaller ones). Cylindrocladium produces a very
uniform 2-celled, hyaline spore with nice rounded ends.

30 The Basidiomycota phyla of true fungi primarily contains rust fungi, smut fungi and
fungi that rot wood. The rust fungi are very interesting. They have a multi-spore life
cycle and can have a multi-host life cycle. These are some of the most devastating
diseases worldwide and control has normally relied on breeding for resistance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeuP5IYP5HA

31 We have already been introduced to the smuts.

32 Most, but not all, wood decay fungi that are plant pathogens are in the Basidiomycota
phylum. These are two examples of wood decay pathogens that commonly occur in
Florida.

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33 There are not very many Chytridiomycota fungi that are associated with plant
diseases, but all are obligate fungi (they need the plant host for survival). This is an
example of two chytrids – one which causes a disease of potato and one which
transmits (vectors) a virus that causes a disease of lettuce.

34 Bacteria cause diseases of plants, but not nearly as many diseases as fungi and
viruses.
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/Bacteria.aspx

35 There are a special group of bacteria, fastidious bacteria, that are especially important
in Florida. One group are called phytoplasmas, which do not have cell walls. Lethal
yellowing and Texas Phoenix Decline of palms are caused by phytoplasmas. Citrus
greening (Huanglongbing) is caused by a fastidious bacterium. All of these fastidious
bacteria are moved from plant to plant by an insect vector.
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/Fastidious.aspx

36 These are photos of a phytoplasma, spiroplasma and Xylella.

37 Viruses are unique and one discussion that you can have with students starts with the
question: Are viruses living organisms? What do you think?
http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/PlantViruses.aspx
http://plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-virus-profiles/#

38 Illustration of the size difference of virus particles. The one on the left has a size bar
of 75 nm. The size bar for the photo on the right is 500 nm.

39 All viruses are spread by movement – either passive or active. Most are moved by
arthropods. Since mites are one vector, we technically can’t state “insects”.

40 An even smaller “organism” that causes plant diseases is a viroid.

http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/Viroids.aspx

41 Size is not important when causing a disease. Even viroids cause devastating diseases.

42 Nematodes are multicellular animals, but we do include them as plant pathogens.

http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/PathogenGroups/Pages/IntroNematodes.aspx
http://www.apsnet.org/EDCENTER/K-12/NEWSVIEWS/Pages/Nematodes.aspx

43 Characteristics of plant parasitic nematodes. An endoparasitic nematode does live

within the plant cell for part of its life, whereas an ectoparasitic lives on the outside of
the plant and simply attacks from the outside. Nematodes not only attack roots, but

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 they can occur on above ground plant parts too. Florida is ideal for nematodes as
they need water to survive.

44 Which Plant Pathogen Are YOU?

45 Now, it is time to answer that question. This personality test was developed by APS,
but adapted from the ASM personality test. There are a series of questions to answer
that will lead you to a number which corresponds to a pathogen and the disease(s)
that it causes.
www.asm.org/index.php/educators/k-12-classroom-activities/23-education/k-12-
teachers/8214-what-microbe-are-you

46 There is a “card” for each pathogen/disease. For most, but not all pathogens and
diseases, next to the credit for the photo (bottom left corner), there is a letter +
number listed. This corresponds to a publication about the pathogen/disease in the
UF/IFAS Electronic Data Information System (EDIS). When you go to the EDIS home
page (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu , type in the letter/number in the search box.

47 There are 30 cards representing 30 pathogens/diseases. Again, most, but not all, will
have an EDIS document, which means that the disease does occur in Florida or has
the strong possibility of occurring in Florida. Others are very common or very
important diseases elsewhere in the world, but not in Florida. For example, coffee
rust is included, as some of us in our coffee every day!
EDIS publications are reviewed at least every 3 years to keep the information as
current as possible. They are written by the experts in their field of science. You are
very welcome to use the information and the photos in EDIS documents, but please
acknowledge where the information and photos are obtained.

48 Now, which plant pathogen are YOU!

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