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Plant and Cell Physiology, 1985, Vol. 26, No. 4 683-692
© 1985

Article

The Effects of Some Polyamine Biosynthetic Inhibitors on Growth and Morphology of Phytopathogenic Fungi1

M. Venkat Rajam2 and Arthur W. Galston

Department of Biology, Kline Biology Tower, Yale University P.O.Box 6666, New Haven, CT 06511, U.S.A.

We have studied the effects of two polyamine biosynthetic inhibitors, {alpha}-difluoro-methylornithine (DFMO) and {alpha}-difluoromethylarginine (DFMA), and of polyamines (PAs), alone and in combination, on mycelial growth and morphology of four phyto-pathogenic fungi: Botrytis sp, B. cinerea, Rhizotonia solani and Monilinia fructicola. The inhibitors were added to a Czapek agar medium to get final concentrations of 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 mM. DFMO and DFMA, suicide inhibitors of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and arginine decarboxylase (ADC) respectively, inhibited mycelial growth strongly; the effect was generally more pronounced with DFMA than with DFMO, but each fungus had its own response pattern. The addition of the PAs putrescine (Put) and spermidine (Spd) to the culture medium resulted in a promotion of growth. In Botrytis sp and Monilinia fructicola exposed to inhibitors plus PAs, mycelial growth was actually increased above control values. Mycelial morphology was altered and cell size dramatically reduced in plates containing inhibitors alone, whereas with PAs alone, or in combination with inhibitors, morphology was normal, but cell length and diameters increased considerably.

These results suggest that PAs are essential for growth in fungal mycelia. The inhibition caused by DFMA may be due to its arginase-mediated conversion to DFMO.

1 Aided by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to AWG.

2 Department of Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal 506009, India, on a National scholarship awarded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of India, New Delhi.

(Received January 19, 1985; Accepted March 1, 1985)
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