Host plant resistance to parasitic weeds; recent progress and bottlenecks

Abstract

Parasitic witchweeds (Striga spp.) and broomrapes (Orobanche and Phelipanche spp.) directly invade the roots of crop plants connecting to the vascular system and abstracting nutrients and water. As a consequence they cause devastating losses in crop yield. Genetic resistance to parasitic weeds is a highly desirable component of any control strategy. Resistance to parasitic plants can occur at different stages of the parasite lifecycle: before attachment to the host, during penetration of the root or after establishment of vascular connections. New studies are beginning to shed light on the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways involved in plant-plant resistance. The first resistance gene to Striga, encoding a CC-NBS-LRR Resistance protein (R) has been identified and cloned suggesting that host plants resist attack from parasitic plants using similar surveillance mechanisms as those used against fungal and bacterial pathogens. It is becoming clear that the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway plays an important role in resistance to parasitic plants and genes encoding pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins are upregulated in a number of the resistant interactions. New strategies for engineering resistance to parasitic plants are also being explored, including the expression of parasite-specific toxins in host roots and RNAi to silence parasite genes crucial for development.