Journal
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY
Volume 12, Issue 9, Pages 724-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio.2129
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Funding
- National Science & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [300001]
- NSERC
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [15K07102, 15KT0031] Funding Source: KAKEN
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Striga spp. (witchweed) is an obligate parasitic plant that attaches to host roots to deplete them of nutrients. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the most destructive Striga species, Striga hermonthica, parasitizes major food crops affecting two-thirds of the arable land and over 100 million people. One potential weakness in the Striga infection process is the way it senses the presence of a host crop. Striga only germinates in the presence of the plant hormone strigolactone, which exudes from a host root. Hence small molecules that perturb strigolactone signaling may be useful tools for disrupting the Striga lifecycle. Here we developed a chemical screen to suppress strigolactone signaling in the model plant Arabidopsis. One compound, soporidine, specifically inhibited a S. hermonthica strigolactone receptor and inhibited the parasite's germination. This indicates that strigolactone-based screens using Arabidopsis are useful in identifying lead compounds to combat Striga infestations.
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