At the occasion of the 16th World Congress on Parasitic Plants held 3-8 July 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya, the IPPS has awarded Honorary Fellowships to (from left to right) Julie Scholes, Dan Nickrent, Abdelgabar Babiker (posthumous), Jonathan Gressel and Barach Rubin. They received this award for their service to the society and their important contributions […]
Strigolactones (SLs) were initially discovered as germination stimulants that induce the seed germination of parasitic plants of the Orobanchaceae (Striga, Alectra, Phelipanche and Orobanche genera). Half a century after this intriguing biological discovery, it was demonstrated that SLs are actually beneficial for plants, as they induce hyphal branching in arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Another 3 yr later, SLs were revealed […]
Last week from 3–8 July, 2022 the 16th World Congress on Parasitic Plants was held in Nairobi, Kenya. Over a 100 participants, mostly on site, partially online, listened to a range of scientific presentations on parasitic plants, from wild, endangered, species to damaging agricultural weeds, and from ecology to molecular biology and control. This first […]
We have posted a new manuscript on bioRXiv by Collin Hudzik et al. Key findings are: There is no host-specificity in accumulation of Cuscuta campestris microRNAs; they are induced at a certain point in haustorial development. Almost all of the C. campestris genes that encode trans-species microRNAs have a common promoter element. The sequence and context of this element […]
We are very pleased to invite you to the Conference “Overcoming the barriers to adoption of microbial bioherbicides”, which will be held in Bari, Italy, and will last three days (from 26 to 28 September – Mon-Wed), with arrivals on the 25th and departures on 29th. The main intent of the proposed Conference is to […]
The IPPS is providing travel grants to support students and young researchers from developing countries to attend the 16th World Congress on Parasitic Plants in Nairobi. Applicants must comply with the following conditions: You are an Early Career Scientist (e.g. MSc student, Ph.D. student, post-doc) You have registered to attend the WCPP and have submitted […]
Edited by Maurizio Vurro, David Chikoye and Jonne Rodenburg. At the occasion of this year’s 16th World Congress on Parasitic Plants (WCPP) in Nairobi (from 3-8 July, 2022), Weed Research is launching a Special Issue dedicated to the fascinating world of parasitic weeds. Submissions focusing on all aspects -from biology, physiology and ecology to management- […]
Striga hermonthica infestation is a growing pandemic threatening global food security. It produces countless dust-like seeds that are persistent in soil. Recently we published an article on the detection and quantification of Striga seedbank in agricultural soil, in the Journal of Weed Research. The high-throughput method we developed combines the traditional flotation method with qPCR-based […]
Striga (Striga hermonthica), commonly known as witchweed, is an obligate root parasitic weed that poses a major threat to global food security and cereal production in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, uncontrolled Striga infestation is causing significant losses in cereal production, affecting crop yields of cereals equating to at least $7 billion each year. There has been […]
The International Parasitic Plant Society is pleased to host the next round of talks of the IPPS Online Seminar Series on April 06, 2022 at 3:00 PM GMT*: Talk #1: Mike Axtell (PennState University, USA) – Molecular evolution and transcriptional control of trans-species microRNA from Cuscuta campestris Talk #2: Claire Baker & Dave Sands (Toothpick project) – Control […]