Comparative Metabolomics of Early Development of the Parasitic Plants Phelipanche aegyptiaca and Triphysaria versicolor

Abstract

Parasitic weeds of the family Orobanchaceae attach to the roots of host plants via haustoria capable of drawing nutrients from host vascular tissue. The connection of the haustorium to the host marks a shift in parasite metabolism from autotrophy to at least partial heterotrophy, depending on the level of parasite dependence. Species within the family Orobanchaceae span the spectrum of host nutrient dependency, yet the diversity of parasitic plant metabolism remains poorly understood, particularly during the key metabolic shift surrounding haustorial attachment. Comparative profiling of major metabolites in the obligate holoparasite Phelipanche aegyptiaca and the facultative hemiparasite Triphysaria versicolor before and after attachment to the hosts revealed several metabolic shifts implicating remodeling of energy and amino acid metabolism. After attachment, both parasites showed metabolite profiles that were different from their respective hosts. In P. aegyptiaca, prominent changes in metabolite profiles were also associated with transitioning between different tissue types before and after attachment, with aspartate levels increasing significantly after the attachment. Based on the results from 15N labeling experiments, asparagine and/or aspartate-rich proteins were enriched in host-derived nitrogen in T. versicolor. These results point to the importance of aspartate and/or asparagine in the early stages of attachment in these plant parasites and provide a rationale for targeting aspartate-family amino acid biosynthesis for disrupting the growth of parasitic weeds.

Resistance to Orobanche crenata Forsk. in lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.): exploring some potential altered physiological and biochemical defense mechanisms

“…However, the parasitism was found to have a markedly effect on metabolites change in the root metabolite for all genotypes compared to their respective noninfested control plants (Figure 5(B)). The changes in metabolomic profile was reported also by Clermont et al (2019) between the facultative parasite T. versicolor and the obligate holoparasite P. aegyptiaca with the host species M. Truncatula and A. thaliana, respectively. Similarly, other authors reported that the parasitism by P. aegyptiaca and O. foetida has affected respectively tomato (Amir 2016) and faba bean (Trabelsi et al 2017;Abbes et al 2020) metabolites when compared to non infested plants.…”

“…Wang et al (2012) suggested that plant cells involve mechanical defense using sterols to make a physical barrier against the nutrient efflux to prevent nutrient and loss against bacterial and pathogens attack. In contrast to previous studies that focused more on polar metabolite variations including starch, amino acid and some secondary metabolite in response to parasitism in different plants (Abbes et al 2009;Amir 2016;Clermont et al 2019), the current study put the light-on fatty acids and sterols as important metabolites that can serve as regulatory pathways to conduct defense mechanisms in lentil and support the suggestion of the ability of the host plant to regulate phloem composition depending onthe host-parasite interaction (Jokinen and Irving 2019). Further, much remains unknown about the host-parasite biochemical interactions and a lot of work is still needed in exploring novel metabolic pathways and associated gene expression, genomic and proteomic analysis.…”

“…It is tightly controlled by some complex genetic and metabolic pathways such as salicylic acid and gibberellin pathways as well as some other phytohormones involved in plant growth (Dezar et al 2011;Jing et al 2020). The root parasitic plants are metabolically dependent on their hosts (Clermont et al 2019), which suggest that the early metabolism adjustments associated with early flowering will stimulate the release of germination stimulants in the rhizosphere of the host root system resulting in an early attachment and development of the parasite on the host plant. such early infestation results with an early parasitism impact affecting the host metabolism and thus its physiological and phenological behavior which explain the correlation found in the current study between D2F, D2OE and SY (Amri et al 2021).…”

“…Unfortunately, studies on lentil resistance to O. crenata and the interaction between host and parasite are still insufficient. A recent scientific report showed that the metabolomics profile of the parasite is different from that of the host, which means that the parasite may have a self-regulating in metabolism (Amir 2016;Clermont et al 2019). Some other studies reported that environmental stresses cause changes in primary and secondary plant metabolisms which depend on plant resistance strategies (Hasanuzzaman et al 2013).…”

Broomrape infestation in carrot (Daucus carota): Changes in carotenoid gene expression and carotenoid accumulation in the parasitic weed Phelipanche aegyptiaca and its host

“…5 and 6). Similarly, different studies reported the differential accumulation of metabolites in the parasitic plant from their hosts including free amino acids 43 , mannitol 44 , total soluble protein and phenolic compounds 34 , amino acids 45,46 , starch 47,48 . The parasite accumulates different metabolites when parasitizing different hosts, further support the assumption that the P. aegyptiaca may alter carotenoids obtained from the host and utilized these imported carotenoids for the synthesis of additional carotenoid compounds.…”