A brief description about special fungal structure-haustoria

1. A Presentation On

2. Presented by,
Preyangka SahaBriste
M.S. student
Department of Plant Pathology,
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University

3. What are fungal haustoria?
• Fungal haustoria are feeding organs that are produced from
spores that germinate on the surface of plants.
• It is a specialized structure of certain parasitic fungi that
penetrates the cells of the host plant to absorb nutrients.
specialized structure of certain parasitic fungi that are produced from spores that
germinate on the surface of plants and penetrates the cells of the host plant to
absorb nutrients

4. Fig : Showing typical fungal haustorium

5. What type of fungi produce haustoria?
• Haustorium production is limited to fungi that need their
host plant to be alive for at least part of the life cycle.
• Biotrophic fungi are fungal pathogens that require a living
plant for all of their life cycle. Such pathogens produce
these specialized feeding structures.
• Examples of biotrophic fungi are the downy mildews, the
powdery mildews, and the rusts.

6. Fig: Haustorial complex, a specialized feeding organ of biotrophic fungal
parasites of plants.

7. Fig: Showing invagination of host cell and uptake of
nutrients by fungal haustorium

8. Mechanism of haustoria development
Germination of spore
Formation of germ-tube
Appresoria
Penetration peg
Infection hyphe
Haustoria

9. Fig: Mechanism of haustoria development

10. Shapes of fungal haustoria
• Small, rounded , button like
• Branched
• Highly branched

11. Fig: Haustoria produced by Puccinia sp Fig: Haustoria produced by Erysiphe sp
Fig : Haustoria produced by Albugo sp

12. Results of haustoria penetration into
host cells
• Fungi that do not kill their hosts utilize specialized feeding
structures called haustoria. These structures are formed from
a hyphal tip that penetrates into the host cell and forms a
union with the plant’s plasma membrane which serves as the
site for the uptake of nutrients.
• This constant drain of nutrients results in yield losses,
discoloration and are visibly stunted in their growth.

13. Fig: Results of nutrient absorbtion by haustoria from host cell

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