A research that talks about the molecular infective process of the Psittacanthus calyculathus mistletoe on mesquite trees. Lignocellulolytic enzymes, proteins, phytohormones and proteases involved in the infectious process were analyzed. It is an open access article with freely downloadable at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/12/3/464 […]
Mistletoe flowers that showed different pollinator syndromes (traits) that are able to engage and manipulate the behavior of flower visitors and contribute to the reproduction of the parasitic plant. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01031/full […]
A ‘Perspective’ article entitled ‘Are root parasitic broomrapes still a good target for bioherbicide control?’ has been recently published in Pest Management Science, with me as the author. It is an open-access article freely downloadable at the following address: https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.7360 This paper was presented orally at the workshop ‘Overcoming the barriers to adoption of microbial […]
In sub‐Saharan Africa, rice is the third‐largest source of food energy, with a rising demand due to population growth and changes in eating habits. The expansion of rice cultivation by converting fallow, maize, and sorghum fields into rainfed rice fields is one method that will help to close the gap between rice demand and production […]
Parasitic plants are notorious for causing serious agricultural losses in many countries. Specialized intrusive organs, haustoria, confer on parasitic plants the ability to acquire water and nutrients from their host plants. Investigating the mechanism involved in haustorium development not only reveals the fascinating mystery of how autotrophic plants evolved parasitism but also provides the foundation […]
Effects from parasitism and parasitic litter input can affect the decomposition of litter, but the mechanism is unclear. We hypothesized that the decomposition of litter produced by the holoparasite Cuscuta australis is promoted more strongly by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) than the litter of its host Bidens pilosa and that parasitism by C. australis can […]
Soil microbes play an important role in plant invasion, and parasitic plants regulate the growth of invasive plants. However, the mechanisms by which parasitic plants regulate the effects of soil microbes on invasive plants have not been investigated. Here, we used the invasive plant Alternanthera philoxeroides and the holoparasitic plant Cuscuta grovonii to test whether […]
Maize (Zea mays) is a major staple crop in Africa, where its yield and the livelihood of millions are compromised by the parasitic witchweed Striga. Germination of Striga is induced by strigolactones exuded from maize roots into the rhizosphere. In a maize germplasm collection, we identified two strigolactones, zealactol and zealactonoic acid, which stimulate less […]
Parasitic plants can often seriously harm host plants and, thus, alter competitive dominance between hosts and neighbouring species. However, whether and how parasitic plants differently affect the competitive abilities of invasive and the native plants have not been tested. In this study, we used Cuscuta grovonii as the parasitic plants and three invasive plants and […]
1. Parasitic plants have been shown to affect soil-organic-matter (SOM) decomposition, but the mechanism is unknown. As arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can affect decomposition and compete with parasitic plants for carbon, we hypothesized that parasitic plants can indirectly regulate SOM decomposition by suppressing the effects of AMF on decomposition. 2. To test this hypothesis, we […]