Host Range of Pathogens
Host Range of Pathogens
Host Range of Pathogens
Pathogens differ with respect to the kinds of plants that they can attack, with respect to the organs and
tissues that they can infect, and with respect to the age of the organ or tissue of the plant on which they
can grow.
Some pathogens are restricted to a single species, others to one genus of plants, and still others have a
wide range of hosts, belonging to many families of higher plants. Some pathogens grow especially on
roots, others on stems, and some mainly on the leaves or on fleshy fruits or vegetables. Some pathogens,
e.g., vascular parasites, attack specifically certain kinds of tissues, such as phloem or xylem. Others may
produce different effects on different parts of the same plant. With regard to the age of plants, some
pathogens attack seedlings or the young tender parts of plants, whereas others attack only mature tissues.
Many obligate parasites are quite specific as to the kind of host they attack, possibly because they have
evolved in parallel with their host and require certain nutrients that are produced or become available to
the pathogen only in these hosts. However, many viruses and nematodes, although obligate parasites,
attack many different host plants. Nonobligate parasites, especially root, stem, and fruit-attacking fungi,
usually attack many different plants and plant parts of varying age, possibly because these pathogens
depend on nonspecific toxins or enzymes that affect substances or processes found commonly among
plants for their attack. Some nonobligate parasites, however, produce disease on only one or a few plant
species. In any case, the number of plant species currently known to be susceptible to a single pathogen is
smaller than the actual number in nature, as only a few species out of thousands have been studied for
their susceptibility to each pathogen. Furthermore, because of genetic changes, a pathogen may be able to
attack hosts previously immune to it. It should be noted, however, that each plant species is susceptible to
attack by only a relatively small number of all known plant pathogens.