Ultrastructure of cuticular exudations in parasitic juvenileHeterodera schachtii,as related to cuticle structure

Summary The development ofHeterodera schachtii inside roots of a cruciferous host plant grown under monoxenic conditions in an agar medium was observed with video-enhanced contrast light microscopy. One to 6 days after inoculation, roots were excised and processed for electron microscopic observations. Exudates were present on the cuticle surfaces of J 2 and early J 3 juveniles located at feeding sites. Fibrillar exudations were correlated with similar fibrillar patterns in the epicuticle, exocuticle, intermediate zone, and the striated endocuticle. Secretion vesicles assembled at many Golgi sites in the hypodermis, appeared to coalesce and form large electron translucent vesicles in the cytoplasm. We propose that secretion vesicles migrate toward the cuticle, contact the plasmalemma and transfer their contents by exocytosis or a similar mechanism to a secretion accumulation site. These contents are associated with cuticle structure and emerge as surface exudations.