Volume 13
Issue 4
Biology
JOURNAL OF
POLISH
AGRICULTURAL
UNIVERSITIES
Available Online: http://www.ejpau.media.pl/volume13/issue4/abs-26.html
HISTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF APHID SALIVA IN PLANT TISSUE
Anna Urbańska
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in Siedlce, Poland
ABSTRACT
This paper concerns specific saliva of Aphididae injected into host-plant during feeding and commonly known as the salivary sheath. Fresh wheat leaves upon which grain aphid Sitobion avenae F. was feeding were hand sectioned. These cross sections were stained with acid fuchsin and examined for the histochemical localization and chemical character of the salivary sheaths by optical microscopy. The salivary secretion of a single aphid forms absolutely proteinaceus salivary sheath that is continuous and appreciable from upper or lower epidermis till sieve elements (sieve tubes). The majority of the salivary sheaths of S.avenae (approx. 88–83%) are located intercellularly through the intermediate tissues i.e. epidermis and mesophyll. Moreover, the salivary secretion is deposited into the epidermal and mesophyll cells and also vascular bundle, and moreover fills up the intercellular spaces. According to the histochemical examination of the salivary deposits of S.avenae its feeding path is established to be both intercellular and intracellular, and ends principally both in the phloem (approx. 63%) and in the mesophyll (approx. 33%), and additionally also in the xylem (approx. 4%). No obvious saliva diffusion into cells adjacent to the salivary sheaths of S.avenae has been found. It is concluded that the histochemical studies of the salivary secretions provide information both on probing mechanism and feeding source of S.avenae and also are useful for recognition of chemical resistance in wheat plants against Aphididae.
Key words: grain aphid, Sitobion avenae F., saliva, salivary sheath, salivary path, winter wheat, leaf tissue, probing mechanism, feeding source, plant-aphid interaction.
Anna Urbańska
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,
University of Natural Sciences and Humanities in Siedlce, Poland
B. Prusa 12, 08-110 Siedlce, Poland
phone: +48 25 643 12 22,
fax: +48 25 644 59 59
email: annau@uph.edu.pl
Responses to this article, comments are invited and should be submitted within three months of the publication of the article. If accepted for publication, they will be published in the chapter headed 'Discussions' and hyperlinked to the article.