Arabidopsis is susceptible to infection by a downy mildew fungus

A population of Arabidopsis thaliana growing locally in a suburb of Zürich called Weiningen was observed to be infected with downy mildew. Plants were collected and the progress of infection was investigated in artificial inoculations in the laboratory. The plants proved to be highly susceptible, and pronounced intercellular mycelial growth, haustoria formation, conidiophore production, and sporulation of the causal organism Peronospora parasitica were all observed. The formation of oogonia, antheridia, and oospores also occurred. In contrast, Arabidopsis strain RLD was resistant to infection and none of the above structures was formed. The fungus was localized very soon after penetration of RLD leaf cells, which responded with a typical hypersensitive reaction. The differential interaction of an isolate of P. parasitica with two strains of Arabidopsis opens up the possibility of cloning resistance determinants from a host that is very amenable to genetic and molecular analysis.