Cross-Species Translocation of mRNA from Host Plants into the Parasitic Plant Dodder

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dc.contributor.authorFlagg, Jeannine K.en
dc.contributor.committeechairWestwood, James H.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGillaspy, Glenda E.en
dc.contributor.committeememberTu, Zhijian Jakeen
dc.contributor.departmentPlant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Scienceen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:34:16Zen
dc.date.adate2006-05-22en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:34:16Zen
dc.date.issued2006-04-11en
dc.date.rdate2007-05-22en
dc.date.sdate2006-04-25en
dc.description.abstractDodders (Cuscuta spp.) are parasitic plants that live by tapping into the vascular tissue of a host plant. Contents of the host phloem translocate readily into the parasite, and shared plasmodesmata have been documented between host cortical cells and dodder searching hyphae. Dodder is known to transmit viruses from one host to another, which is consistent with viral ability to traverse plasmodesmata (PD) with the aid of movement proteins (MPs). Plant endogenous mRNAs may also associate with specific proteins to pass through PD and traffic long distances in the phloem, a process that appears to play a role in coordination of development. We have evaluated the hypothesis that dodder is able to accumulate host phloem-mobile mRNAs by assaying lespedeza dodder (C. pentagona) for the presence of host transcripts. Reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) and tomato microarrays were used to probe RNA from dodder parasitizing tomato. Transcripts from four tomato genes were detected in dodder grown on tomato, but were not detected in control dodder grown on other hosts. Notable among these was LeGAI, a transcript previously shown to be phloem translocated. In addition, RT-PCR of RNA from dodder grown on pumpkin detected three mobile pumpkin mRNAs (CmNACP, CmSUTP1, and CmWRKYP). These results imply the existence of an extraordinary situation in which mobile mRNAs move from one plant into another, and raise questions about the role of this phenomenon in plant development and parasite pathogenicity.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-04252006-145220en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-04252006-145220/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/31909en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartThesis-Flagg.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectpumpkinen
dc.subjectphloem-mobile mRNAen
dc.subjecttomatoen
dc.subjectCusucuta pentagonaen
dc.titleCross-Species Translocation of mRNA from Host Plants into the Parasitic Plant Dodderen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePlant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Scienceen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen

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