Effects of Benzoquinones on Radicles of Orobanche and Phelipanche Species

Abstract

The holoparasitic broomrape weeds (Orobanche and Phelipanche species) cause severe yield losses throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern and Eastern Europe. These parasitic weeds form an haustorium at the tip of their radicles to infect the crop upon detection of the host-derived haustorium-inducing factors. Until now, the haustorial induction in the broomrapes remains less studied than in other parasitic plant species. Known haustorium-inducing factors active in hemiparasites, such as Striga and Triphysaria species, were reported to be inefficient for the induction of haustoria in broomrape radicles. In this work, the haustorium-inducing activity of p-benzoquinone and 2,6-dimethoxy-p-benzoquinone (BQ and DMBQ) on radicles of three different broomrapes, namely Orobanche cumana, Orobanche minor and Phelipanche ramosa, is reported. Additional allelopathic effects of benzoquinones on radicle growth and radicle necrosis were studied. The results of this work suggest that benzoquinones play a role in the induction of haustorium in broomrapes. Although dependent on the broomrape species assayed and the concentration of quinones used in the test, the activity of BQ appeared to be stronger than that of DMBQ. The redox property represented by p-benzoquinone, which operates in several physiological processes of plants, insects and animals, is invoked to explain this different activity. This work confirms the usefulness of benzoquinones as haustorium-inducing factors for holoparasitic plant research. The findings of this work could facilitate future studies in the infection process, such as host-plant recognition and haustorial formation.

Identification of Allelochemicals with Differential Modes of Phytotoxicity against Cuscuta campestris

“…This family of compounds are well known for their phytotoxicity and their structures have been used for finding new phytotoxic and herbicidal compounds able to interfere with several molecular target sites, and for their oxidative properties [41][42][43][44]. Moreover, the scaffold is relevant in the study of the induction of haustoria [45]; for example, 2,6dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone, an isolated derivative from sorghum, induced haustoria in Striga, Phtheirospermum, Triphysaria, Agalinis, Orobanche and Phelipanche species [40,46].…”

Identification of Pigmented Substances in Black Honey from Leucosceptrum canum: Novel Quinonoids Contribute to Honey Color

“…p-Benzoquinones are common metabolites in plants, animals, and bacteria. 31 Honey originates from the nectar of plants, and its chemical composition is closely related to the botanical source. 32 To the best of our knowledge, there are limited references on the chemical composition of L. canum.…”

“…p-Benzoquinone is another essential substrate in the formation of pigmented compounds. p-Benzoquinones are common metabolites in plants, animals, and bacteria . Honey originates from the nectar of plants, and its chemical composition is closely related to the botanical source .…”

Identification and genetic diversity analysis of broomrape in Xinjiang, China

“…The Orobanchaceae family, known as broomrape, is a holoparasitic plant with no chlorophyll, and nutrients, minerals, and water are obtained from the host by haustoria [ 1 ]. Broomrape can severely retard the growth and productivity of its host plants and cause crop losses that reach billions of dollars annually [ 2 , 3 ]. At present, some methods have been applied in the field to control broomrape, such as cultural practices, suicidal germination, activation of systemic acquired resistance, biocontrol, and herbicides [ 4 , 5 ].…”