Abstract
M.Sc.
Inducible defence responses in both a susceptible cotton cultivar ( Acala ) and a
resistant cotton cultivar ( OR-19 ) in response to elicitors fromVerticillium dahliae were investigated. These oligosaccharin elicitors represent the heat solubilized, non-dialyzable fraction of the pathogen cell wall. This elicitorfraction consist of 6.57 % protein and 68 % carbohydrate and represent merely a discrete portion of the cell wall. Moreover, symptoms such as chlorosis and necrosis were induced by the elicitor in both cultivars, but the timing and magnitute of symptom development differed in that the symptoms occurred much faster and were more intense ( hypersensitive response) in the resistant cultivar. An effective elicitor concentration of 30 ug/ ml ( = 21 ug glucose equivalents) was determined and used throughout this study. Inducible defence responses i.e, the accumulation of PR-proteins and specifically activities of B-1,3-glucanase and chitinase were investigated in the intercellular environment as well as cellular extractions of both cultivars. An attempt was also made to analyse the expression of B-1 ,3-glucanase and chitinase genes at them RNA level ( level of transcription) and to correlate it to the determined levels of enzyme activities. Lignification as well as smaller plant metabolites i.e, sesquiterpenoid-phytoalexins relating to pathogenesis that are induced by the elicitor, were also investigated in both cultivars. In this study it is shown that differences are found
between Acala and OR-19 and that some of these differences can be correlated to
plant resistance. These differences found in the time studies ( intensity, time of response, qualitative and quantitative differences ) of the defence responses induced in both cultivars is discussed against the background of disease resistance.