green vine of the parasitic dodder plant (Cuscuta) latching onto a host plant. Christian Hettenhausen et al. found that Cuscuta bridges between host plants facilitate the transfer of herbivoryinduced signals from attacked to unattacked host plants. The authors report that the jasmonic acid biosynthesis pathway is required to generate such interplant signaling, which elevates defensive metabolit...

The root parasitic plant species Phelipanche ramosa, branched broomrape, causes severe damage to economically important crops such as tomato. Its seed germination is triggered by host-derived signals upon which it invades the host root. In tomato, strigolactones (SLs) are the main germination stimulants for P. ramosa. Therefore, the development of low SL-producing lines may be an approach to co...

Plants face many antagonistic interactions that occur sequentially. Often, plants employ defense strategies in response to the initial damage that are highly specific and can affect interactions with subsequent antagonists. In addition to herbivores and pathogens, plants face attacks by parasitic plants, but we know little about how prior herbivory compared to prior parasite attachment affects ...