Immunolocalisation and ultra-structural studies of the early interactions between Stagonospora nodorum and wheat

This thesis gives an insight into the early interactions between a fungal disease and cereal plants mainly wheat. It indicates early sensing of the host plant by the spore that might lay in the composition of the leaf wax layer. It describes the various phases of Extracellular Matrix secretion mainly from the spore and later from the germ-tube. In this work one can find an array of methods for the visualization of the, in some cases illusive fungal matrix including high resolution microscopy and specific monoclonal antibodies. Comment: Since this work, there have been advances in cryomicroscopy methods allowing better preservation of aqueous-based fungal ECMs.