Plants constantly adapt their metabolism and signaling to survive in a highly dynamic environment. In the past few years, the integration of metabolomics and other omics technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics has accelerated our understanding of plant metabolism and plant signaling and their role in the interaction between plants and their […]

Parasitic plants are plants that connect with a haustorium to the vasculature of another, host, plant from which they absorb water, assimilates, and nutrients. Because of this parasitic lifestyle, parasitic plants need to coordinate their lifecycle with that of their host. Parasitic plants have evolved a number of host detection/host response mechanisms of which the […]

Parasitic plants connect to the vasculature of a host plant and take part or all of the water, nutrients, and assimilates they need to complete their life cycle. Parasitic plants represent a unique model for the evolution of intra-kingdom parasitism with intriguing research questions such as how plants were able to evolve the ability to […]

Information on parasitic and non-parasitic weed occurrence within croplands is vital but is often unavailable to support weeding practices and improve cropland productivity assessments. Until now, few studies have been conducted to estimate weed abundances within agroecological systems from spaceborne images over wide-area landscapes, particularly for the genus Striga. In this study, we attempt to […]

Open Access, Research Review, New Phytologist,  https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17271 Authors: Immaculate M. Mwangangi, Lucie Büchi, Stephan M. Haefele, Lammert Bastiaans, Steven Runo & Jonne Rodenburg In this review paper we explore the potential of improved plant nutrition to fortify the expression of plant inherent resistance and tolerance against Striga in cereals. Beyond reviewing advances in parasitic plant research, we assess relevant […]

This review paper published in New Phytologist (Mutuku et al., 2021) illustrates recent progress on the molecular interaction between Orobanchaceae parasites and hosts with special focus on the processes during parasites’ germination and infection. It also highlights several genetic factors and hormones in parasitic plants important for sensing and targeting host based on the recent […]

Parasitic plants are highly diverse in terms of their evolutionary history, life cycles, growth habits, structure, etc. Even the haustorium, which “embodies the idea of plant parasitism”, varies widely among and within parasite groups. But if we look past conspicuous differences, what can we learn about haustorium structure and evolution? Is there a common pattern […]