MORPHOLOGY AND CYTOLOGY OF TILLETIA CARIES AND T. CONTROVERSA IN AXENIC CULTURE

On a wheat-based medium, the pathogenic phase of the common and dwarf bunt fungi grew slowly at 15–18 C and continued to produce massive quantities of teliospores in all subcultures for over 2 years. At warmer temperatures or on a chemically defined medium, the teliosporogenic colonies reverted to haploid mononucleate colonies. The hyphae of the teliosporogenic colonies were stained with a modified Giemsa technique and found to be thick, contorted, highly branched and short celled with usually one or two nuclei per cell. In contrast, the haploid mononucleate hyphae were thinner, straighter, and longer and never contained more than one nucleus per cell. The vegetative hyphae of T. caries and T. controversa were indistinguishable. Teliospores, formed at the terminal end of binucleate hyphae, were initially binucleate but became mononucleate before the mature cell wall formed.