DURUM WHEAT INFECTED BY STAGONOSPORA NODORUM: SURVEY ON ELECTROPHORETIC PROTEIN PATTERN MODIFICATIONS

摘要

Stagonospora nodorum blotch (SNB) is a fungal disease of wheat caused by Stagonospora nodorum. The fungus attacks epigeous parts of the plant causing direct damage to kernel with heavy yield losses. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of S. nodorum infection on the electrophoretic protein pattern of durum wheat kernels. The protein pattern of kernels harvested from plants artificially infected in the field and of kernels inoculated in vitro, was defined by SDS-PAGE. Starting from this experimental set, two sub-samples were analysed, the first without further manipulation, the second after an incubation at different time intervals on water agar plates. The results did not disclose any change in the protein pattern of the first sub-sample of kernels whereas a profound alteration of their protein profile occurred after incubation. This result would suggest that albeit the pathogen has the ability to degrade host proteins is unable to express the same ability during field infection.