Susceptibility to Enzymatic Degradation of Cell Walls from Bean Plants Resistant and Susceptible to Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn

Enzymes in culture filtrates of Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn grown using 4-day old or 20-day old bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) hypocotyl cell walls as a carbon source degraded xylan, galactan, galactomannan, araban, polygalacturonic acid, and carboxymethylcellulose. Extracts of lesions from R. solani infected plants, but not healthy plants, contained similar enzymatic activities. These enzyme sources readily solubilized cell wall constituents containing arabinose, galactose, and glucose from 4-day old, but not from 20-day old, bean cell walls. Analysis of cell walls prepared from infected plants revealed that the alterations in cell wall composition in the diseased host were limited largely to the immediate lesion areas and occurred during the early phases of pathogenesis. The cell walls of young susceptible bean seedlings could be degraded by R. solani enzymes, but the cell walls of older plants which are resistant to this pathogen were not susceptible to enzymatic destruction by the same enzyme preparation.