Figures
Scanning electron microscopy image of an immature fruiting body of the ash-dieback pathogen Hymenoscyphus fraxineus
Air-borne ascospores of the ash dieback pathogen H. fraxineus infect ash tree leaves in summer and the pathogen continues to grow on the leaves after they have been shed in autumn. In early summer, fruiting bodies (ascocarps) form on the ash leaf stems in the leaf litter; after fertilization, mature ascocarps fire ascospores upwards into the air thereby initiating a new round of infection. European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is very susceptible to H. fraxineus, which was probably introduced from East Asia, resulting in an epidemic of ash dieback that has swept east to west across Europe. Downie JA
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Kim Findlay and Anne Edwards, The John Innes Centre
Citation: (2017) PLoS Pathogens Issue Image | Vol. 13(7) July 2017. PLoS Pathog 13(7): ev13.i07. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.ppat.v13.i07
Published: July 31, 2017
Copyright: © 2017 Findlay and Edwards. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Air-borne ascospores of the ash dieback pathogen H. fraxineus infect ash tree leaves in summer and the pathogen continues to grow on the leaves after they have been shed in autumn. In early summer, fruiting bodies (ascocarps) form on the ash leaf stems in the leaf litter; after fertilization, mature ascocarps fire ascospores upwards into the air thereby initiating a new round of infection. European ash (Fraxinus excelsior) is very susceptible to H. fraxineus, which was probably introduced from East Asia, resulting in an epidemic of ash dieback that has swept east to west across Europe. Downie JA
Image Credit: Image courtesy of Kim Findlay and Anne Edwards, The John Innes Centre