Summary Orobanche and Phelipanche spp. (broomrapes) are parasitic plants that can be responsible for devastating losses in several important crops. The development of resistant cultivars is one of the key strategies in the fight against this pest. However, the nature of resistance is complex and the basis of the interaction between the host and the parasite is still largely unknown. Despite the progress achieved during the last century through breeding programmes, sources of resistance are often scarce (e.g. the legumes). The resistance that is available is often not durable, with field resistance being overcome by new races of the parasite (e.g. sunflower). This review summarises efforts made to improve the resistance of crop hosts for broomrapes through classical breeding programmes and looks forward to the integration of new knowledge generated from molecular and morphological studies. Emphasis is given to the need for a multidisciplinary approach to achieve success, ranging from improved field phenotyping to genetic and biotechnological studies. All components are necessary to understand this particular and characteristic interaction: a plant parasitising another plant.

Orobanche

Parasitic plant

Crop Protection

Weed science

10.1111/j.1365-3180.2009.00738.x

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Citations (56)

Use of a visible reporter marker- myb-related gene in crop plants to minimize herbicide usage against weeds

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (2018)

Radi Aly Ran Nisim Lati Vinay Kumar Bari Jackline Abu-Nassar Hanan Eizenberg

Abstract Weeds, a main threat to agricultural productivity worldwide, are mostly controlled by herbicides. To minimize herbicide usage by targeting it to weedy areas, we developed a new image-based methodology for robust weed detection that relies on manipulating the crop plant’s leaf hue, without affecting crop fitness. We generated transgenic tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum Xanthi) lines overexpressing anthocyanin pigment as a traceable marker that differentiates transgenes from the surrounding weeds at an early stage. Transformation with the anthocyanin VlmybA1-2 gene produced purple-colored leaves. Subsequent gene silencing with vector p TRV2 : VlmybA1-2 significantly reduced anthocyanin pigments in tobacco leaves 40 days after agroinfiltration, with a concomitant reduction in VlmybA1-2 transcript levels. Purple hue faded gradually, and there were no fitness costs in terms of plant height or leaf number in the silenced vs. non-silenced tobacco transgenes. These results could lead to a new sustainable weed-control method that will alleviate weed-related ecological, agricultural and economic issues.

10.1101/455162

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Use of a visible reporter marker- myb-related gene in crop plants to minimize herbicide usage against weeds

Plant Signaling & Behavior (2019)

Radi Aly Ran Nisim Lati Vinay Kumar Bari Jackline Abu‐Nassar Hanan Eizenberg

Weeds, a main threat to agricultural productivity worldwide, are mostly controlled by herbicides. To minimize herbicide usage by targeting only weedy areas, we developed a new methodology for robust weed detection that relies on manipulating the crop plant's leaf hue, without affecting crop fitness. We generated transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum Xanthi) lines overexpressing the anthocyanin pigment as a traceable marker that differentiates transgenes from the surrounding weeds at an early stage. Transformation with the anthocyanin VlmybA1-2 gene produced purple-colored leaves. Subsequent gene silencing with vector pTRV2:VlmybA1-2 significantly reduced anthocyanin pigments in tobacco leaves 40 days after agroinfiltration, with a concomitant reduction in VlmybA1-2 transcript levels. Purple hue faded gradually, and there were no fitness costs in terms of plant height or leaf number in the silenced vs. non-silenced tobacco transgenes. These results could lead to a new sustainable weed-control method that will alleviate weed-related ecological, agricultural and economic issues.

10.1080/15592324.2019.1581558

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Citations (2)

Broomrape Can Acquire Viruses from Its Hosts

Phytopathology (2009)

Amit Gal‐On Anna Naglis Diana Leibman Hammam Ziadna Kathir Kathiravan

Broomrapes (Phelipanche, formerly Orobanche) are parasitic plants that physically connect with the vascular systems of their hosts through haustorial structures. In this study, we found that Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), Potato virus Y (PVY), and Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) translocate from infected host plants to Phelipanche aegyptiaca. In order to examine whether these viruses, and specifically CMV, replicate in the parasite, we tested several replication parameters. We detected accumulation of both plus and minus strands of CMV genomic RNA and CMV-derived siRNAs in the shoots of Phelipanche grown on CMV-infected tobacco and tomato plants. We purified CMV particles from Phelipanche grown on CMV-infected plants. These particles were present in amounts comparable to those found in the hosts' leaves. These data indicate that CMV replicates in Phelipanche tissues. In addition, viable ToMV and PVY were observed, and the plus and minus strand RNAs of ToMV were detected in Phelipanche shoots grown on infected hosts. However, we found only low levels of ToMV coat protein and did not detect any PVY coat protein. We also detected genomic TYLCV DNA in shoots of Phelipanche grown on TYLCV-infected tomato. Thus, for the first time, we demonstrate that broomrape is a host for at least one plant virus CMV, and possibly various other viruses.

Orobanche

Obligate parasite

Tobamovirus

10.1094/phyto-99-11-1321

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Citations (22)

Using genetically modified tomato crop plants with purple leaves for absolute weed/crop classification

Pest Management Science (2013)

Ran Nisim Lati Sagi Filin Radi Aly Tal Lande Ilan Levin

Weed/crop classification is considered the main problem in developing precise weed-management methodologies, because both crops and weeds share similar hues. Great effort has been invested in the development of classification models, most based on expensive sensors and complicated algorithms. However, satisfactory results are not consistently obtained due to imaging conditions in the field.We report on an innovative approach that combines advances in genetic engineering and robust image-processing methods to detect weeds and distinguish them from crop plants by manipulating the crop's leaf color. We demonstrate this on genetically modified tomato (germplasm AN-113) which expresses a purple leaf color. An autonomous weed/crop classification is performed using an invariant-hue transformation that is applied to images acquired by a standard consumer camera (visible wavelength) and handles variations in illumination intensities.The integration of these methodologies is simple and effective, and classification results were accurate and stable under a wide range of imaging conditions. Using this approach, we simplify the most complicated stage in image-based weed/crop classification models.

Germ plasm

Hue

Machine Vision

10.1002/ps.3647

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Citations (4)