VIEW ARTICLE

Techniques

Application of Scanning Electron Microscopy to Paraffin-Embedded Plant Tissues to Study Invasive Processes of Plant-Pathogenic Fungi. D. A. Gaudet, Research scientist, Agriculture Canada Research Station, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1J 4B1; E. G. Kokko, electron microscopist, Agriculture Canada Research Station, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1J 4B1. Phytopathology 74:1078-1080. Accepted for publication 6 March 1984. Copyright 1984 Department of Agriculture, Government of Canada. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-74-1078.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) applied to paraffin-embedded tissue sections is compared with the traditional techniques of light microscopy and surface SEM for the study of invasion by a plant-pathogenic fungus. SEM of paraffin-embedded sections of wheat leaves infected by Coprinus psychromorbidus consistently yielded high-quality micrographs showing three-dimensional views of both internal and external disease development processes. When the orientation of the specimen in the SEM is manipulated, the specimen can be viewed from different perspectives. The technique is simple and inexpensive and combines the advantages of great depth of focus and high resolution of the SEM with the simple preparatory techniques employed for light microscopy.