VIEW ARTICLE

Response of Cultured Cells of Systemic and Local Lesion Tobacco Hosts to Microinjection with TMV. T. E. Russell, Assistant Plant Pathologist, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, Present address of senior author: University of Arizona Experiment Station at Mesa, 1601 W. Main St., Mesa 85202; R. S. Halliwell, Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, Texas A & M University, College Station 77843. Phytopathology 64:1520-1526. Accepted for publication 28 June 1974. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-64-1520.

Cultured cell chains derived from two cultivars of Nicotiana tabacum ‘Samsun’ and ‘Samsun NN’ were microinjected with TMV to compare the effects of the virus on cultured cells of a systemic host (Samsun) with those of a local lesion host (Samsun NN). Eight Samsun NN cell chains were injected with infectious TMV; six became infected and contained inclusions, and two showed no response. Five Samsun NN chains injected with heat-treated TMV produced neither symptoms nor inclusions. Eight ‘Samsun’ chains injected with infectious TMV showed symptoms with inclusion formation, and five chains injected with heat-treated TMV were symptomless. Evidence of infection in the Samsun NN cells included rapid loss of transvacuolar streaming, apparent infection of some cells and not others in a cell chain, cytoplasmic vesiculation, and infrequent formation of small virus inclusions. Response of Samsun cells in chains was milder and more predictable than that in infected Samsun NN cells. Infected Samsun cells maintained their integrity longer, produced larger and more numerous inclusions, and symptoms appeared in all cells of each chain, indicating virus spread from cell to cell. Bioassay of inclusion-bearing cell chains of both cultivars verified that virus multiplication resulted from the injected TMV.