Title: Strigolactone deficiency confers resistance in tomato line SL-ORT1 to the parasitic weeds Phelipanche and Orobanche spp.

Abstract: The parasitic flowering plants of the genera Orobanche and Phelipanche (broomrape species) are obligatory chlorophyll-lacking root-parasitic weeds that infect dicotyledonous plants and cause heavy economic losses in a wide variety of plant species in warm-temperate and subtropical regions. One of the most effective strategies for broomrape control is crop breeding for broomrape resistance. Previous efforts to find natural broomrape-resistant tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) genotypes were unsuccessful, and no broomrape resistance was found in any wild tomato species. Recently, however, the fast-neutron-mutagenized tomato mutant SL-ORT1 was found to be highly resistant to various Phelipanche and Orobanche spp. Nevertheless, SL-ORT1 plants were parasitized by Phelipanche aegyptiaca if grown in pots together with the susceptible tomato cv. M-82. In the present study, no toxic activity or inhibition of Phelipanche seed germination could be detected in the SL-ORT1 root extracts. SL-ORT1 roots did not induce Phelipanche seed germination in pots but they were parasitized, at the same level as M-82, after application of the synthetic germination stimulant GR24 to the rhizosphere. Whereas liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry analysis of root exudates of M-82 revealed the presence of the strigolactones orobanchol, solanacol, and didehydro-orobanchol isomer, these compounds were not found in the exudates of SL-ORT1. It can be concluded that SL-ORT1 resistance results from its inability to produce and secrete natural germination stimulants to the rhizosphere. [Evgenia Dor, Koichi Yoneyama, Smadar Wininger, Yoram Kapulnik, Kaori Yoneyama, Hinanit Koltai, Xiaonan Xie, and Joseph Hershenhorn (2011). Strigolactone deficiency confers resistance in tomato line SL-ORT1 to the parasitic weeds Phelipanche and Orobanche spp. Phytopathology, 101(9), 213-222. DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-07-10-0184 ]





Article: WeedsNews1928 (permalink)
Categories: :WeedsNews:agricultural weed, :WeedsNews:genetics, :WeedsNews:research alert
Date: 28 July 2011; 1:00:42 PM AEST

Author Name: David Low
Author ID: adminDavid