Dawn of a new era for parasitic plant biology

Parasitic plants represent one of the most remarkable evolutionary innovations in the plant kingdom. By partially or completely abandoning an autotrophic lifestyle and instead forming intimate associations with other plants, parasitic species directly acquire water, nutrients, and diverse metabolites from their hosts (Yoshida et al. 2016). This lifestyle has evolved independently at least twelve times in angiosperms and encompasses more than 4500 species, highlighting parasitism as a recurrent and successful adaptive strategy (Nickrent 2020). However, this evolutionary success is accompanied by substantial agricultural consequences, as several parasitic plant species, including dodders (Cuscuta), witchweeds (Striga spp.), and broomrapes (Phelipanche and Orobanche spp.), severely impair crop growth and productivity and continue to pose major challenges to global food security (Riches and Parker 1995, Runo and Kuria 2018). Recent advances in molecular, cellular, and genomic approaches have now propelled parasitic plant research into a new era, in which genome evolution, interspecies signal exchanges, plant–plant chemical communication, and host resistance mechanisms are being addressed with unprecedented resolution. At the same time, these advances also create new opportunities to develop sustainable strategies to mitigate the agricultural impacts of parasitic plants.