Systematic position and life cycle of Puccinia

1. Systematic position and life cycle of
Puccinia
Sankrita Gaonkar
Assistant Professor in Botany
sankrita002@gmail.com

2. Contents
• Systematic position of Puccinia
• Life cycle of Puccinia
• References

3. Puccinia
Systematic position:
• Class: Basidiomycetes
• Order: Pucciniales
• Family: Pucciniaceae
• Genus: Puccinia
Features:
• Genus Puccinia consists of more than 4000 different species all of which
are plant pathogens.
• These are known to cause rusts in both monocotyledons and dicotyledons.
• Major pathogen, P. graminis (Stem rust) affects cereal crops such as wheat,
barley etc.

4. Puccinia graminis
• It is an obligate parasite of wheat causing stem rust
disease.
• Its life cycle consists of two hosts namely,
Wheat – Primary host
Barberry – Secondary host
• Stem rust affects parts of plants that are above ground.
• In wheat it results in formation of brown to black
elongated pustules.
• In barberry it forms flask shaped pycnia at dorsal and
aecia on ventral side
• Infection of P. graminis results in retarded growth and
reduced seed size in wheat.

5. 5 types of spores in life cycle of Puccinia graminis:
• Pycnidiospores or Spermatia (uninucleate) – spermagonia
• Aecidiospores (binucleate) – aecidia
• Uredospores (binucleate) – on dikaryotic mycelium
• Teleutospores or teliospores (binucleate) – on dikaryotic mycelium
• Basidiospores (uninucleate) – basidia

6. Life cycle of Puccinia graminis

8. References
• https://www.cusb.ac.in/images/cusb-files/2020/el/lsc/amt/Puccinia.pdf
• Vashishta B.R., Sinha A.K. and Singh V.P. 2012. Botany for degree
students: Algae. S. Chand & company ltd.