Goldwasser Y, Westwood J H, Yoder J I
Arabidopsis Book. 2002;1:e0035. doi: 10.1199/tab.0035. Epub 2002 Apr 4.
Parasitic plants invade host plants in order to rob them of water, minerals and nutrients. The consequences to the infected hosts can be debilitating and some of the world's most pernicious agricultural weeds are parasitic. Parasitic genera of the Scrophulariaceae and Orobanchaceae directly invade roots of neighboring plants via underground structures called haustoria. The mechanisms by which these parasites identify and associate with host plants present unsurpassed opportunities for studying chemical signaling in plant-plant interactions. Seeds of some parasites require specific host factors for efficient germination, thereby insuring the availability of an appropriate host root prior to germination. A second set of signal molecules is required to induce haustorium development and the beginning of heterotrophy. Later stages in parasitism also require the presence of host factors, although these have not yet been well characterized. Arabidopsis is being used as a model host plant to identify genetic loci associated with stimulating parasite germination, haustorium development, and parasite support. Arabidopsis is also being employed to explore how host plants respond to parasite attack. Current methodologies and recent findings in Arabidopsis - parasitic plant interactions will be discussed.
寄生植物侵入寄主植物，以掠夺它们的水分、矿物质和养分。对受感染寄主的影响可能是衰弱性的，世界上一些最有害的农业杂草就是寄生性的。玄参科和列当科的寄生属通过一种叫做吸器的地下结构直接侵入邻近植物的根部。这些寄生虫识别寄主植物并与之建立联系的机制，为研究植物间相互作用中的化学信号传导提供了绝佳的机会。一些寄生虫的种子需要特定的寄主因子才能有效萌发，从而确保在萌发前有合适的寄主根可供利用。还需要另一组信号分子来诱导吸器发育和异养的开始。寄生后期也需要寄主因子的存在，尽管这些因子尚未得到很好的表征。拟南芥正被用作模式寄主植物，以确定与刺激寄生虫萌发、吸器发育和寄生虫支持相关的基因位点。拟南芥也被用于探索寄主植物如何应对寄生虫的攻击。本文将讨论拟南芥与寄生植物相互作用的当前方法和最新发现。
