Ultrastructure of necrotic lesions in Nicotiana glutinosa leaves locally infected with a variant of Cucumber mosaic virus

CMV(Y/GM2)tr is a variant of Cucumber mosaic virus strain Y [CMV(Y)] which infects Nicotiana species, including N. glutinosa, to induce necrotic local lesions (NLLs) in inoculated leaves, although all other CMV strains including CMV(Y) systemically infect Nicotiana species. To investigate the morphological features of this unique host response in N. glutinosa leaves infected with CMV(Y/GM2)tr, the ultrastructure of cells surrounding completely collapsed NLLs in virus-inoculated N. glutinosa leaves was compared with that of normal cells of mock-inoculated N. glutinosa leaves. The changes, which have been reported in other several virus - host plant systems showing the hypersensitive response (HR), were frequently observed in cells surrounding the NLLs. Furthermore, clumping of the nuclear matrix within the nuclei, which is a feature of programmed cell death, also occurred in these cells. These results indicated that the HR-like host response occurred at the fine structural level in the cells of N. glutinosa plants infected with CMV(Y/GM2)tr.