This book brings together for the first time in a single volume, the ecology, biology, damage, and control of all groups of African parasitic plants including both the relatively few parasites introduced to the continent as well as those native parasites which have spread from within Africa. This covers the well-known witchweeds and broomrapes but […]
Plants have evolved various strategies to adapt nutrient limited condition. As a reflection, parasitic plants and legume species produce specialized organs, the haustorium and the nodule, respectively, in order to acquire unique routes for nutrient uptake through intimate interaction with surrounding organisms. Initiation and developmental progression of haustorium and nodule require signal guidance from the […]
Infestation by the parasitic weed Striga is a major cause of cereal crop production losses on smallholder farms in Africa. Essential plant nutrients play an important indirect role in parasite seed germination, the first prerequisite for successful parasitism. Here, we demonstrate that increasing the nutrient availability for the host plant can also impede Striga development […]
Background Cuscuta, a parasitic plant species in the Convolvulaceae family, grows in many countries and regions. However, the relationship between some species is still unclear. Therefore, more studies are needed to assess the variation of the chloroplast (cp) genome in Cuscuta species and their relationship with subgenera or sections, thus, providing important information on the […]
Cuscuta campestris produces many unique microRNAs only at the haustorial interface with hosts. Our previously published work showed that these interface-induced microRNAs can target host messenger RNAs (mRNAs). The targeted host mRNAs generally function in immune responses, vascular system functions, or hormone signal transduction. Our overall hypothesis is that the Cuscuta interface-induced microRNAs act in […]
Root parasitic plants of the Orobanchaceae, broomrapes and witchweeds, pose a severe problem to agriculture in Europe, Asia, and especially Africa. These parasites are totally dependent on their host for survival, and therefore their germination is tightly regulated by host presence. Indeed, their seeds remain dormant in the soil until a host root is detected […]
Introduction: Parasitic plants can damage crop plants and consequently cause yield losses and thus threaten food security. Resource availability (e.g., phosphorus, water) has an important role in the response of crop plants to biotic attacks. However, how the growth of crop plants under parasitism are affected by environmental resource fluctuation is poorly understood. Methods: We […]
Dodders (Cuscuta australis R. Br.) are holo-parasitic stem angiosperms with an extensive host range that have significant ecological and economic potential impact on the ecosystem and the agricultural system. However, how the host plant responds to this biotic stress remains mostly unexplored. To identify the defense-related genes and the pathways in white clover (Trifolium repens […]
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 […]