Parasitic plants steal sugars, water, and other nutrients from host plants through a haustorial connection. Several species of parasitic plants such as witchweeds (Striga spp.) and broomrapes (Orobanche and Phelipanche spp.) are major biotic constraints to agricultural production. Parasitic plants are understudied compared with other major classes of plant pathogens, but the recent availability of genomic and transcriptomic data has accelerated the rate of discovery of the molecular mechanisms underpinning plant parasitism. Here, we review the current body of knowledge of how parasitic plants sense host plants, germinate, form parasitic haustorial connections, and suppress host plant immune responses. Additionally, we assess whether parasitic plants fit within the current paradigms used to understand the molecular mechanisms of microbial plant-pathogen interactions. Finally, we discuss challenges facing parasitic plant research and propose the most urgent questions that need to be answered to advance our understanding of plant parasitism.

中文翻译：

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寄生植物及其宿主之间的分子对话。

寄生植物通过吸管连接从宿主植物中窃取糖，水和其他养分。几种寄生植物，例如金缕梅（Striga spp。）和扫帚（Orobanche和Phelipanche spp。）是农业生产的主要生物限制因素。与其他主要类别的植物病原体相比，对寄生植物的研究不足，但是最近获得的基因组和转录组数据加快了发现植物寄生性分子机制的速度。在这里，我们回顾了有关寄生植物如何感生寄主植物，发芽，形成寄生性吸盘连接并抑制寄主植物免疫反应的当前知识。此外，我们评估寄生植物是否适合当前用于理解微生物植物与病原体相互作用的分子机制的范式。最后，我们讨论了寄生植物研究面临的挑战，并提出了需要回答的最紧迫的问题，以加深我们对植物寄生性的理解。