Double-Staining Method to Detect Pectin in Plant-Fungus Interaction

Summary

This protocol describes a microscopical method to detect pectin in coffee-fungus interaction.

Abstract

Plant cells use different structural mechanisms, either constitutive or inducible, to defend themselves from fungal infection. Encapsulation is an efficient inducible mechanism to isolate the fungal haustoria from the plant cell protoplast. Conversely, pectin, one of the polymeric components of the cell wall, is a target of several pectolytic enzymes in necrotrophic interactions. Here, a protocol to detect pectin and fungal hyphae through optical microscopy is presented. The pectin-rich encapsulation in the cells of coffee leaves infected by the rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix and the mesophyll cell wall modification induced by Cercospora coffeicola are investigated. Lesioned leaf samples were fixed with the Karnovsky solution, dehydrated, and embedded in glycol methacrylate for 2-4 days. All steps were followed by vacuum-pumping to remove air in the intercellular spaces and improve the embedding process. The embedded blocks were sectioned into 5-7 µm thick sections, which were deposited on a glass slide covered with water and subsequently heated at 40 °C for 30 min. Next, the slides were double-stained with 5% cotton blue in lactophenol to detect the fungus and 0.05% ruthenium red in water to detect pectin (acidic groups of polyuronic acids of pectin). Fungal haustoria of Hemileia vastatrix were found to be encapsulated by pectin. In coffee cercosporiosis, mesophyll cells exhibited dissolution of cell walls, and intercellular hyphae and conidiophores were observed. The method presented here is effective to detect a pectin-associated response in the plant-fungi interaction.

Introduction

Cell wall defense mechanisms in plants are crucial to restrain fungal infection. Studies have reported changes in cell wall thickness and composition since the 19^th century^1,2. These changes can be induced by a fungal pathogen that stimulates the formation of a papilla, which prevents fungi from entering the cell or could be used to encapsulate the hyphae to isolate the host cell protoplast from the fungal haustoria. The production of a dynamic cell wall barrier (i.e., papillae and a fully encased haustorium) is important to promote plant resistance³. Histopathological studie....

Protocol

1. Preparation of the buffering solution and reagents

1. Prepare 2 M cacodylate buffer by adding 4.28 g of sodium cacodylate to 100 mL of distilled water and adjust the pH to 7.25 with 0.2 N HCl.
2. Prepare 100 mL of the Karnovsky fixative solution by mixing 10 mL of 25% aqueous glutaraldehyde, 10 mL of 10% aqueous formaldehyde, 25 mL of 2 M cacodylate buffer, and 0.5 mL of 0.5 M CaCl₂²⁶. Make up the volume to 100 mL with distilled water.
   NOTE: The solution can be kept in a refrigerator for 6 months.
   CAUTION: The cacodylate buffering solution is toxic; therefore, handle the fixative solu....

Results

The cotton blue lactophenol staining on the GMA-embedded section revealed the presence of several fungal structures between and inside coffee mesophyll cells in both biotrophic and necrotrophic fungal interactions.

In the biotrophic pathosystem, when stained using the double-staining method, Hemileia vastatrix hyphae containing cell walls and the dense protoplast content appear in dark blue in both spongy and palisade parenchyma (Figure 4A,B

Discussion

The present work introduces an alternative double-staining histochemical test to investigate the pectin composition of cell walls that encapsulates haustoria in a biotrophic pathosystem. The aim is also to demonstrate the efficacy of the method to detect necrotrophic fungus and cell wall changes induced by it. Here, pectin of coffee parenchyma cell walls can encapsulate both the neck and the haustorium of the rust fungus Hemileia vastatrix. Silva et al. have also described encapsulation by cellulose and callose .......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Blades DB80 HS	Leica	14035838383	Sectioning
Cacodylate buffer	EMS	# 11652	Fixation
Cotton Blue Lactophenol	Metaquímica	70SOLSIG024629	Staining
Formaldehyde	EMS	#15712	Fixation
Glutaraldehyde	EMS	#16216	Fixation
Historesin Kit	Technovit /EMS	#14653	Historesin for embedding
Hot plate	Dubesser	SSCD25X30-110V	Staining
Microscopy	Zeiss	#490040-0030-000	Image capture
Microtome (Leica RM 2540)	Leica	149BIO000C1 14050238005	Sectioning
Plastic molding cup tray	EMS	10176-30	Staining
Ruthenium red	LABHouse	#006004	Staining
Software Axion Vision	Zeiss	#410130-0909-000	Image capture
Vaccum pump	Prismatec	131 TIPO 2 V.C.	Fixation