Zheng Xijie, Zhang Jingxiong, Zhao Man, Su Zhongxiang, Li Hongjing, Wu Jianqiang
Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Plant Cell Environ. 2025 Jun;48(6):4370-4384. doi: 10.1111/pce.15438. Epub 2025 Feb 21.
The parasitic plants dodders (Cuscuta spp., Convolvulaceae) can often simultaneously parasitize two or more neighbouring hosts, forming dodder-connected plant clusters. In a dodder-connected plant cluster, salt-induced systemic priming signals are transferred from the salt-stressed host (signal donor, SD) to the other host (signal receiver, SR) through dodder and prime the SR plants for enhanced salt tolerance, but what signalling pathways regulate the dodder-mediated interplant priming signals remain unclear. In this study, using genetic analyses, we show that in dodder-connected tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) clusters, the strigolactone (SL), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and abscisic acid (ABA) pathway in the SD plants negatively control the salt stress-induced systemic signals from SD to SR plants. Transcriptome data suggested that the salt-induced systemic signals regulated by SLs in the SD plants may also affect the ABA and ROS signalling pathway in the SR plants. Quantification of the ABA and HO contents in the SD plants suggested that the SL and ROS signalling likely converge on the ABA pathway to regulate the priming signals. This study reveals the important regulatory roles of phytohormones and ROS in dodder-mediated interplant communications and provides new insight into systemic signalling during salt stress adaptation in individual plants.
寄生植物菟丝子（菟丝子属，旋花科）常常能同时寄生在两个或多个相邻宿主上，形成由菟丝子连接的植物簇。在由菟丝子连接的植物簇中，盐诱导的系统性引发信号会从盐胁迫的宿主（信号供体，SD）通过菟丝子传递到另一个宿主（信号受体，SR），并使SR植物的耐盐性增强，但哪些信号通路调节菟丝子介导的植物间引发信号仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们通过遗传分析表明，在由菟丝子连接的烟草（烟草属）簇中，SD植物中的独脚金内酯（SL）、活性氧（ROS）和脱落酸（ABA）通路对盐胁迫诱导的从SD到SR植物的系统性信号起负调控作用。转录组数据表明，SD植物中由SLs调节的盐诱导系统性信号可能也会影响SR植物中的ABA和ROS信号通路。对SD植物中ABA和HO含量的定量分析表明，SL和ROS信号可能在ABA通路上汇聚以调节引发信号。本研究揭示了植物激素和ROS在菟丝子介导的植物间通讯中的重要调控作用，并为个体植物在盐胁迫适应过程中的系统性信号传导提供了新的见解。
