The parasitic vine known as dodder really sucks. It pierces the tissue of other plants — some of which are important crops — extracting water and nutrients needed for its own growth. But it also consumes molecules that scientists could manipulate to bring on the parasite’s demise.
Some RNA molecules siphoned from the host plant remain stable in dodder, traveling several centimeters within the parasite, researchers report in an upcoming New Phytologist. That finding hints at a means for parasitic plants to coordinate growth with their hosts, prolonging the parasite’s survival. And the result suggests that scientists could design “attack RNA” for a host plant, which would interfere with dodder’s growth, debilitating the parasite.
“This is very exciting from the point of view of controlling parasitic plants,” comments James Westwood of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, who reported last year that some RNA molecules from pumpkin and tomato were indeed transferred to dodder. “You could use the RNA interference strategy to really elegantly control dodder on some crops.”