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Broad Spectrum Systemic Acquired Resistance In Amblystegium Serpens, Christina A. Tatara

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is a well-characterized defense mechanism in vascular plants where initial exposure to a pathogen induces resistance throughout the plant to subsequent attacks by a wide range of pathogens. A similar SAR-like mechanism has recently been documented in a nonvascular plant, the moss Amblysregium serpens, but it has not been thoroughly characterized. Currently only one pathogen, the oomycete Pythium irregulare, has been shown to trigger SAR in this or any other nonvascular plant. I have observed and characterized the interactions between A. serpens and two other alleged moss pathogens, the ascomycetes Acrosporium sympodiale and Botrytis cinerea. Using …