AOBPreview originally published online on March 30, 2006
Annals of Botany 2006 97(6):925-931; doi:10.1093/aob/mcl063
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BOTANICAL BRIEFING |
Strigolactones: Chemical Signals for Fungal Symbionts and Parasitic Weeds in Plant Roots
Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, Osaka, Japan
* For correspondence. E-mail akiyama{at}biochem.osakafu-u.ac.jp
Received: 30 December 2005 Returned for revision: 23 January 2006 Accepted: 18 February 2006 Published electronically: 30 March 2006
• Aims Arbuscular mycorrhizae are formed between >80 % of land plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. This Botanical Briefing highlights the chemical identification of strigolactones as a host-recognition signal for AM fungi, and their role in the establishment of arbuscular mycorrhizae as well as in the seed germination of parasitic weeds.
• Scope Hyphal branching has long been described as the first morphological event in host recognition by AM fungi during the pre-infection stages. Host roots release signalling molecules called ‘branching factors’ that induce extensive hyphal branching in AM fungi. Strigolactones exuded from host roots have recently been identified as an inducer of hyphal branching in AM fungi. Strigolactones are a group of sesquiterpenes, previously isolated as seed germination stimulants for the parasitic weeds Striga and Orobanche. Parasitic weeds might find their potential hosts by detecting strigolactones, which are released from plant roots upon phosphate deficiency in communication with AM fungi. In addition to acting as a signalling molecule, strigolactones might stimulate the production of fungal symbiotic signals called ‘Myc factors’ in AM fungi.
• Conclusions Isolation and identification of plant symbiotic signals open up new ways for studying the molecular basis of plant–AM-fungus interactions. This discovery provides a clear answer to a long-standing question in parasitic plant biology: what is the natural role for germination stimulants? It could also provide a new strategy for the management and control of beneficial fungal symbionts and of devastating parasitic weeds in agriculture and natural ecosystems.
Key words: Sesquiterpene lactone, Lotus japonicus, Gigaspora margarita, root exudate, Striga, Orobanche, phosphate nutrition
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