Cuscuta campestris fine-tunes gene expression during haustoriogenesis as an adaptation to different hosts.

ABSTRACT: The Cuscuta genus comprises obligate parasitic plants that have an unusually wide host range. Whether Cuscuta uses different infection strategies for different hosts or whether the infection strategy is mechanistically and enzymatically conserved remains unknown. To address this, we investigated molecular events during the interaction between field dodder (Cuscuta campestris) and two host species of the Solanum genus that are known to react differently to parasitic infection. We found that host gene induction, particularly of cell wall fortifying genes, coincided with a differential induction of genes for cell wall degradation in the parasite in the cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) but not in a wild relative (Solanum pennellii). This indicates that the parasite can adjust its gene

SUBMITTER: Bawin T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10756757 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature