Lack of GFP Trafficking from Transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana to Parasitizing Cuscuta pentagona

Abstract

This work reports lack of GFP transport from transgenic N. bethamiana under the control of constitutive promoter CAMV 35S to Cuscuta pentagona. The data on N. bethamiana and C. pentagona host-parasite system suggests that macromolecular trafficking from host to parasite is host–parasite specific and such results should not be generalized outside the system studied. This data further suggests that molecular trafficking from host to parasite through either symplastic or apoplastic mechanisms is not fully understood. This is so for as especially the gating mechanisms involved. Macromolecular trafficking between host and parasite holds potential application in parasitic plant management and in basic research. It is therefore important to investigate why such contradictions exist in even very closely related host parasite systems like the genera Nicotiana and Cuscuta.