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 […]

Parasitic plants use haustorium to absorb parts or all of nutrient resources required for their growth from host plants. As a multicellular organ, the haustorium consists of different cell types, yet the knowledge on their spatial arrangement is largely limited and far lagging from that of other organs such as root and shoot. This paper […]

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 […]

Mutants that reveal the secrets of how plants attack? No, it’s not a scene from a science fiction movie, but you could be forgiven for thinking that. Instead, it’s a scene from real life: Researchers Cui et al. at Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan report in a new study in Science Advances […]