New form of plant communication discovered

Scientists have discovered a potentially new form of plant communication, one that allows them to share an extraordinary amount of genetic information with one another.
The research by Virginia Tech scientist Jim Westwood, throws open the door to a new arena of science that explores how plants communicate with each other on a molecular level.
The study can also give scientists new insight into ways to fight parasitic weeds that wreak havoc on food crops in some of the poorest parts of the world.
"The discovery of this novel form of inter-organism communication shows that this is happening a lot more than any one has previously realised," said Westwood, who is an affiliated researcher with the Fralin Life Science Institute.

"Now that we have found that they are sharing all this information, the next question is, 'What exactly are they telling each other?'."
Westwood examined the relationship between a parasitic plant, dodder, and two host plants, Arabidopsis and tomatoes.

In order to suck the moisture and nutrients out of the host plants, dodder uses an appendage called a haustorium to penetrate the plant.
Westwood has previously broken new ground when he found that during this parasitic interaction, there is a transport of RNA between the two species. RNA translates information passed down from DNA, which is an organism's blueprint.
The research expands the scope of this exchange and examines the mRNA, or messenger RNA, which sends messages within cells telling them which actions to take, such as which proteins to code.

It was thought that mRNA was very fragile and short-lived, so transferring it between species was unimaginable.
But Westwood found that during this parasitic relationship, thousands upon thousands of mRNA molecules were being exchanged between both plants, creating this open dialogue between the species that allows them to freely communicate.
Through this exchange, the parasitic plants may be dictating what the host plant should do, such as lowering its defences so that the parasitic plant can more easily attack it.
Westwood's next project is aimed at finding out exactly what the mRNA are saying.
The findings are published in the journal Science.