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Published on: August 18, 2019
Developing for nutrient uptake: Induced organogenesis in parasitic plants and root nodule symbiosis
Songkui Cui1, Shoko Inaba2, Takuya Suzaki3
1Department of Economic Plants and Biotechnology, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Abstract:
Plants have evolved diverse strategies to meet their nutritional needs. Parasitic plants employ haustoria, specialized structures that facilitate invasion of host plants and nutrient acquisition. Legumes have adapted to nitrogen-limited conditions by developing nodules that accommodate nitrogen-fixing rhizobia. The formation of both haustoria and nodules is induced by signals originating from the interacting organisms, namely host plants and rhizobial bacteria, respectively. Emerging studies showed that both organogenesis crucially involves plant hormones such as auxin, cytokinins, and ethylene and also integrate nutrient availability, particularly nitrogen. In this review, we discuss recent advances on hormonal and environmental control of haustoria and nodules development with side-by-side comparison. These underscore the remarkable plasticity of plant organogenesis.
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