XVI International Botanical Congess

The development of sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes depends on their unique ability to induce a series of developmental changes within plant roots leading to the formation of syncytium. Following plants were examined: susceptible-A. thaliana, Raphanus sativus (cv. Siletina) and Sinapis alba (cv. Trico), and resistant-R. sativus (cv. Pegletta and Nemex), and S. alba (cv. Maxi). In the susceptible plants syncytia were composed of highly hypertrophied procambial and pericyclic cells. The cytoplasm and the smooth ER proliferated while the vacuole decreased. In resistant plants there was a slighter increase in the cell volume and the rough ER predominated. A fine fibrillar material was present in the ER cisternae and in numerous small vacuoles.