How do you identify Phytophthora infestans?

How do you identify Phytophthora infestans?

People can observe Phytophthora infestans produce dark green, then brown then black spots on the surface of potato leaves and stems, often near the tips or edges, where water or dew collects. The sporangia and sporangiophores appear white on the lower surface of the foliage.

What is Phytophthora infestans?

Phytophthora infestans is a destructive plant pathogen best known for causing the disease that triggered the Irish potato famine and remains the most costly potato pathogen to manage worldwide.

Is Phytophthora infestans a oomycete?

Abstract. The oomycete Phytophthora infestans is a filamentous plant pathogen that causes the late blight disease in potato worldwide. It has been a favorite subject of study since the Great Irish Famine in the 1840s and is considered to be a model species for oomycetes.

What is Phytophthora infestans and how did it change us history?

Few crop failures have been as devastating as those caused by potato late blight in the 1840s. This disease is caused by a filamentous microbe called Phytophthora infestans, which spread from North America to Europe in 1845, leading to the Great Famine in Ireland and to severe crop losses in the rest of Europe.

What kingdom is Phytophthora infestans in?

ChromistaPotato late blight fungus / Kingdom

What is the class of Phytophthora?

OomycetePhytophthora / Class

What caused Phytophthora infestans?

The infection is caused by the zoospores found in the soil or that fall onto the tubers from infected foliage during harvest. Following germination the zoospores penetrate into the tubers through the “eyes”, lenticels, growth cracks, wounds, or via the point of attachment to the plant (the stolon) (Lapwood, 1977).

Is Phytophthora infestans unicellular or multicellular?

Many heterokonts are unicellular flagellates, and some, including Phytophthora, are multicellular with a flagellated single-celled stage in the life cycle called a zoospore.

Why Phytophthora infestans was infamous in human history?

Is Phytophthora infestans still a problem today?

Phytophthora infestans remains a problem to production agriculture. Historically there have been many controversies concerning its biology and pathogenicity, some of which remain today.

What type of pathogen is Phytophthora?

Phytophthora species are soil-inhabiting pathogens that are favored by wet conditions. Although previously considered fungi, Phytophthora species are now considered to be in a separate classification called oomycetes.

What is the life cycle of Phytophthora?

Life cycle Sporangia release tiny, single-celled swimming spores called zoospores. Zoospores can swim through water on leaf surfaces or through water-logged soil, but they are susceptible to drying. Zoospores are attracted to plant roots as they swim through the soil, and when they find one, they form a cyst.

Where did Phytophthora infestans come from?

Enter Phytophthora infestans, a funguslike water mold with the ability to decimate potato plants with a disease known as late blight. It seems the pathogen did not accompany the original potatoes that were brought to Europe but instead was introduced to Ireland from North America in 1845.

Is Phytophthora infestans a fungus or protist?

Phytophtora infestans is an oomycete protist. P. infestans was originally thought to be a fungal species due to its filamentous structure and metabolic strategies, but recent biochemical and phylogenetic analyses has revealed that P.

How is Phytophthora different from other fungi?

Phytophthora species resemble true fungi because they grow by means of fine filaments, called hyphae, and produce spores. But unlike true fungi, their cell walls contain cellulose instead of chitin, their hyphae lack cross-walls, and the diploid phase, rather than the haploid phase, dominates their life cycle.

How does Phytophthora infestans reproduce?

The potato late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans has both an asexual and a sexual mode of reproduction. In Scandinavia, the pathogen is reproducing sexually on a regular basis, whereas clonal lineages dominate in other geographical regions.

Who discovered Phytophthora infestans?

The pathogen was first described by M. J. Berkeley (Figure 2A) and subsequently named Phytophthora infestans by Anton de Bary (Figure 2B) in the 1870’s (Berkeley, 1846; de Bary, 1876). de Bary’s (Figure 2B) (the “father of plant pathology”) conclusive studies convinced the scientific community that the white …

Is Phytophthora infestans a Protoctist?

Is Phytophthora infestans a scientific name?

Phytophthora infestansPotato late blight fungus / Scientific name

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