Appressorium

An appressorium is a specialized cell typical of many fungal plant pathogens that is used to infect host plants. It is a flattened, hyphal "pressing" organ, from which a minute infection peg grows and enters the host, using turgor pressure capable of punching through even Mylar.^[1][2]

Following spore attachment and germination on the host surface, the emerging germ tube perceives physical cues such as surface hardness and hydrophobicity, as well as chemical signals including wax monomers that trigger appressorium formation. Appressorium formation begins when the tip of the germ tube ceases polar growth, hooks, and begins to swell. The contents of the spore are then mobilized into the developing appressorium, a septum develops at the neck of the appressorium, and the germ tube and spore collapse and die. As the appressorium matures, it becomes firmly attached to the plant surface and a dense layer of melanin is laid down in the appressorium wall, except across a pore at the plant interface. Turgor pressure increases inside the appressorium and a penetration hypha emerges at the pore, which is driven through the plant cuticle into the underlying epidermal cells. The osmotic pressure exerted by the appressorium can reach up to 8 MPa, which allows it to puncture the plant cuticle.^[3] This pressure is achievable due to a melanin-pigmented cell wall which is impermeable to compounds larger than water molecules, so the highly-concentrated ions cannot escape from it.^[4]