Wang Yunxia, Bu Hubai, Gu Xin, Liu Wanxue, Wang Xinpu
College of Forestry and Prataculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, 750021, China.
Agricultural College of Ningxia University, Yinchuan, 750021, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 May 17;25(1):657. doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-06698-1.
Xanthium spinosum is one of the most abundant and aggressively invasive plants in the world. Cuscuta australis parasitism hinders X. spinosum growth and development by absorbing nutrients, leading to reduced reproductive performance. However, which metabolite changes contribute to stunted growth and diminished reproductive performance in X. spinosum? Additionally, what genes regulate these metabolites? These underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown.
X. spinosum was used to determine the physiological relevance of C. australis parasitism to alleviate host plant growth and explore the molecular mechanism, with a focus on metabolic pathways. The results revealed that C. australis significantly reduced the growth potential of X. spinosum, with a particularly notable decrease in seed quantity, which decreased by 92.07%. C. australis parasitism increased the activities of the peroxidase (POD) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes in the stems of X. spinosum. Integrated transcriptome and metabolome analysis revealed that C. australis influenced lignin synthesis in the stem through the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway. Concurrently, the majority of differentially expressed genes in the galactose metabolism pathway were upregulated, leading to increased sugar accumulation and disrupted metabolism. Furthermore, all differentially expressed genes in the autophagy-other pathway were upregulated, resulting in excessive autophagy and a significant reduction in the reproductive performance of X. spinosum.
The results provide a theoretical foundation for the development of targeted pesticides aimed at controlling X. spinosum.
刺苍耳是世界上分布最为广泛且极具侵略性的入侵植物之一。南方菟丝子寄生通过吸收养分阻碍刺苍耳的生长发育，导致其繁殖性能下降。然而，刺苍耳生长发育受阻和繁殖性能降低是由哪些代谢物变化引起的？此外，哪些基因调控这些代谢物？这些潜在机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。
以刺苍耳为研究对象，旨在确定南方菟丝子寄生对缓解寄主植物生长的生理相关性，并探索其分子机制，重点关注代谢途径。结果表明，南方菟丝子显著降低了刺苍耳的生长潜力，种子数量尤其显著减少，减少了92.07%。南方菟丝子寄生增加了刺苍耳茎中过氧化物酶（POD）和超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）的活性。转录组和代谢组综合分析表明，南方菟丝子通过苯丙烷生物合成途径影响茎中木质素的合成。同时，半乳糖代谢途径中的大多数差异表达基因上调，导致糖分积累增加和代谢紊乱。此外，自噬-其他途径中的所有差异表达基因均上调，导致过度自噬，刺苍耳的繁殖性能显著降低。
这些结果为开发针对刺苍耳的靶向农药提供了理论基础。
