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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Leveraging Micro-CT Scanning to Analyze Parasitic Plant-Host Interactions
Published on: January 12, 2022
Tocochromanol content and composition in different species of the parasitic flowering plant genus Cuscuta
Thomas A W van der Kooij1, Karin Krupinska, Kirsten Krause
1Institute of Botany, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, 24098 Kiel, Germany.
Abstract:
The holoparasitic plant genus Cuscuta is comprised of species with various degrees of plastid functionality and significant differences in photosynthetic capacity, ranging from moderate to no photosynthetic carbon fixation. In the present study, several Cuscuta species were analyzed with respect to the overall contents of tocochromanols and plastoquinone and the levels of the individual tocochromanols. No correlations among photosynthetic capacity, the amount of carotenoids, of plastoquinone and of tocochromanols were observed. On the contrary, wide variation in the composition of the tocochromanol fraction was observed among different species, as well as in stems of the same species in response to starvation conditions. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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