Dual fungal and plant cell culture

Plant tissue cultures are now well-recognized as valuable experimental systems for use in the study of host-pathogen interactions. These techniques have obvious major advantages for the examination of obligately biotrophic fungi and also those with a necrotrophic life style, and it is in these areas that much research effort has been concentrated (1). Success with combined fungal-plant cultures has been variable, especially in terms of establishing cultures that may be maintained in a balanced state for prolonged periods, but there is no doubt that such systems are useful places for the study of cell-cell interactions.