I am proud to present our new paper on the involvement of strigolactones in sorghum tolerance against Striga, which appeared in Weed Research today. This paper is dedicated to our friend and mentor Prof. Abdul Gabbar Babiker who passed away in 2022.
The root parasitic weed Striga hermonthica is a major constraint to cereal production in sub-Saharan Africa. Tolerance to Striga—guaranteeing a reasonable yield despite infection—is potentially a valuable trait to curtail crop yield losses. However, the mechanisms underlying tolerance are not well understood, making selection for the trait difficult. The strigolactones, signalling molecules in root exudates of Striga hosts, play an important role in the Striga infection process as germination stimulants. However, there are indications that they may also play a role in tolerance. In the present investigation, we set out to study tolerance to Striga infection, and the possible role of strigolactones in this, using 20 sorghum genotypes displaying large genetic variation in strigolactone composition. Several genotypes were identified to be tolerant, as they displayed only low to moderate response to Striga infection. Tolerant genotypes displayed a higher orobanchol to 5-deoxystrigol and/or sorgomol ratio in their root exudates. The possible relationship between strigolactones and tolerance, as well as the analysis of strigolactones as a tool for the selection of Striga tolerance are discussed.
Ahmed, N.M., Babiker, A.G.T. & Bouwmeester, H.J. (2025) A role for strigolactones in the genetic variation in tolerance to Striga infection in sorghum. Weed Research, 65(2), e70011. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/wre.70011