Dissecting an opportunistic host-parasitic plant interaction   
Y. ICHIHASHI (1), T. Wakatake (1), A. Yoshida (2), N. Maki (1), A. Shibata (1), J. Kyozuka (2), K. Shirasu (1) (1) Riken Center for Sustainable Resource Science, Japan; (2) Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Japan

Parasitic plants infect host plants to obtain nutrients and water. Parasitic plants should be able to coordinate such benefits depending on their environment including host conditions. To examine the parasitic effects under different nutrient conditions, we have utilized a facultative root hemi-parasite, Phtheirospermum japonicum and rice as a host. In all conditions, the shoot growth of the parasite was enhanced by infection: The fresh weight and height were increased with the rich nutrients, while the number of leaf was increased with the poor nutrients, suggesting that the parasite allocates nutrients obtained from the host to different tissues depending on its environment. Although the shoot growth of the host was decreased by the infection in the rich nutrient condition, interestingly, no damages on the host shoots were observed in the poor condition. This suggests that the symbiotic relationship (i.e. parasitism and commensalism) between these species in the shoot growth could respond to the environmental nutrient conditions. We have characterized the transcriptional profile using RNA-seq to elucidate the molecular changes in the environmental response.    

Abstract Number: P19-703
Session Type: Poster