Orobanchaceae parasite–host interactions

Abstract

Summary Parasitic plants in the family Orobanchaceae, such as Striga, Orobanche and Phelipanche, often cause significant damage to agricultural crops. The Orobanchaceae family comprises more than 2000 species in about 100 genera, providing an excellent system for studying the molecular basis of parasitism and its evolution. Notably, the establishment of model Orobanchaceae parasites, such as Triphysaria versicolor and Phtheirospermum japonicum, that can infect the model host Arabidopsis, has greatly facilitated transgenic analyses of genes important for parasitism. In addition, recent genomic and transcriptomic analyses of several Orobanchaceae parasites have revealed fascinating molecular insights into the evolution of parasitism and strategies for adaptation in this family. This review highlights recent progress in understanding how Orobanchaceae parasites attack their hosts and how the hosts mount a defense against the threats.

Combining host plant defence with targeted nutrition: key to durable control of hemiparasitic Striga in cereals in sub‐Saharan Africa?

“…The success of Striga is based on its life cycle that is intricately synchronised with the host plant's cycle ( Fig. 1), because of a suite of underlying molecular processes clearly outlined by Mutuku et al, (2020). First, Striga seed dormancy needs to be broken by a period (approx.…”

“…This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved down in a few generations resulting from the high genetic variation within Striga populations allowing the development of a population of adapted ecotypes (Mutuku et al, 2020;Joel et al, 2018;Unachukwu et al, 2017), and (2) partial resistant cultivars that get infected by Striga can still suffer severe grain yield losses. For these reasons, it is important for a crop genotype to combine resistance with a sufficient degree of tolerance.…”

“…Resistance is always only partial, implying that the likelihood of Striga infections can never be entirely excluded. This leads to two major shortcomings of resistance: resistance can break down in a few generations resulting from the high genetic variation within Striga populations allowing the development of a population of adapted ecotypes (Unachukwu et al ., 2017; Joel et al ., 2018; Mutuku et al ., 2020); and partially resistant cultivars that become infected by Striga can still suffer severe grain yield losses. It is therefore important for a crop genotype to combine resistance with a sufficient degree of tolerance.…”

“…1), because of a suite of underlying molecular processes clearly outlined by Mutuku et al . (2020). First, Striga seed dormancy needs to be broken by a period ( c. 10 d) of sufficiently moist soil conditions, usually achieved at the onset of a new rainy season.…”

Living with a giant, flowering parasite: metabolic differences between Tetrastigma loheri Gagnep. (Vitaceae) shoots uninfected and infected with Rafflesia (Rafflesiaceae) and potential applications for propagation

“…There are limited studies on the chemical ecology of plant parasite-host interactions (Wink and Witte 1993;Loveys et al 2001;Lozano-Baena et al 2007;Runyon et al 2009;Smith et al 2009;Clarke et al 2019;Furlan et al 2019;Mutuku et al 2020;Piwowarczyk et al 2020). Since these interactions are metabolically diverse, involving two species of plants that may share biochemical characteristics (Lozano-Baena et al 2007), chemical analysis is difficult (Allwood et al 2008).…”