Glucosylation of endogenous haustorium-inducing factors underpins kin avoidance in parasitic plants

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Xiang, Lei; Cui, Songkui; Saucet, Simon B.; Takahashi, Moe; Inaba, Shoko; Xie, Bing; Schilder, Mario; Shimada, Shota; Cui, Mengqi; Li, Yanmei; Watanabe, Mutsumi; Tobimatsu, Yuki; Bouwmeester, Harro J.; Tohge, Takayuki; Shirasu, Ken; Yoshida, Satoko
• 署名单位: Nara Institute of Science & Technology; Chinese Academy of Sciences; Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS; RIKEN; Kyoto University; Kyoto University; University of Amsterdam; Syngenta; Kwansei Gakuin University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adx8220
• 发表日期: 2025-10-23
• 页码: 405-410
• 关键词: GLUCOSYLTRANSFERASE; metabolism; gene

摘要

Parasitic plants rarely attack themselves, suggesting the existence of a kin-avoidance mechanism. In the root parasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum, prehaustorium formation is triggered by host-secreted haustorium-inducing factors (HIFs), but it is unresponsive to its own exudates. Here we report the identification of the spontaneous prehaustorium 1 (spoh1) mutant, which forms prehaustoria without external host signals. spoh1 harbors a point mutation in the gene encoding uridine diphosphate-glucosyltransferase UGT72B1, an enzyme that glucosylates and thereby inactivates phenolic HIFs. PjUGT72B1 has a different substrate specificity than its ortholog of the host Arabidopsis. Introduction of PjUGT72B1 into Arabidopsis reduced prehaustorium induction activity, indicating that UGT72B1 regulates haustorium induction by hosts. Our findings suggest that Orobanchaceae hemiparasitic plants have evolved kin-avoidance mechanisms through the glucosylation of endogenous HIFs.