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PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

Cross-Species Translocation of mRNA from Host Plants into the Parasitic Plant Dodder^1,[OA]

Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061–0331

An intriguing new paradigm in plant biology is that systemically mobile mRNAs play a role in coordinating development. In this process, specific mRNAs are loaded into the phloem transport stream for translocation to distant tissues, where they may impact on developmental processes. However, despite its potential significance for plant growth regulation, mRNA trafficking remains poorly understood and challenging to study. Here, we show that phloem-mobile mRNAs can also traffic between widely divergent species from a host to the plant parasite lespedeza dodder (Cuscuta pentagona Engelm.). Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and microarray analysis were used to detect specific tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) transcripts in dodder grown on tomato that were not present in control dodder grown on other host species. Foreign transcripts included LeGAI, which has previously been shown to be translocated in the phloem, as well as nine other transcripts not reported to be mobile. Dodders are parasitic plants that obtain resources by drawing from the phloem of a host plant and have joint plasmodesmata with host cortical cells. Although viruses are known to move between dodder and its hosts, translocation of endogenous plant mRNA has not been reported. These results point to a potentially new level of interspecies communication, and raise questions about the ability of parasites to recognize, use, and respond to transcripts acquired from their hosts.

² Present address: Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Blacksburg, VA 24061–0477.

The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: James H. Westwood (westwood{at}vt.edu).

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www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.106.088369

^* Corresponding author; e-mail westwood{at}vt.edu; fax 540–231–7477.

Received August 16, 2006; accepted December 3, 2006; published December 22, 2006.

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