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Influence of Holoparasitic Plant Cuscuta japonica on Growth and Alkaloid Content of Its Host Shrub Catharanthus roseus: A Field Experiment

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Abstract

Japanese dodder (Cuscuta japonica) is a flowering, parasitic weed that causes major yield losses on crop and forest production. In the present field study, the influence of Cuscuta on the growth and secondary metabolite of its host medicinal shrub Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) was investigated. Vegetative and reproductive growth of the host plant Catharanthus was measured at intervals from 0 to 60 days after inoculation (DAI), and content of three alkaloids, naturally produced by the host, in the host and parasite were measured by HPLC at intervals from 15 to 45 DAI. Dodder infection significantly inhibited biomass accumulation and reproductive growth of Catharanthus, and aerial parts of the host died by 60 DAI. Levels of alkaloids vinblastine, vindoline and catharanthine in the inoculated Catharanthus were lower than in uninoculated control plants, both in immature leaf and in mature leaf, except the alkaloids contents were elevated in host immature leaf compared with uninoculated control plants immature leaf at 15 days. The host plant thus actively responded to dodder infection by accumulating alkaloids acts as a defense molecule at 15 DAI. The alkaloids produced by host plants accumulated in dodder at 15–45 DAI, and the alkaloid content in dodder reached a maximum at 45 DAI. The alkaloids transported from host to parasite act as a sink, the high content of alkaloids in dodder be cytotoxic and accelerated the onset of senescence.

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Abbreviations

DAI:

Days after inoculation

TIAs:

Terpenoid indole alkaloids

VLB:

Vinblastine

VLD:

Vindoline

CTA:

Catharanthine

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Ju Zhao

  2. The Key Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, People’s Republic of China

    Ya-Jie Pan, Hua-Feng Chen & Zhong-Hua Tang

  3. College of Bioengineering, Daqing Normal University, Daqing, 163712, People’s Republic of China

    Xiao-Ju Zhao

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  1. Xiao-Ju Zhao
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  2. Ya-Jie Pan
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  4. Zhong-Hua Tang
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Correspondence to Hua-Feng Chen.

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Zhao, XJ., Pan, YJ., Chen, HF. et al. Influence of Holoparasitic Plant Cuscuta japonica on Growth and Alkaloid Content of Its Host Shrub Catharanthus roseus: A Field Experiment. Arab J Sci Eng 43, 93–100 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-017-2674-0

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