Exploring Information Exchange between and Its Host through Joint Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis.

Background: known as the "plant antibiotic" is a facultative root hemi-parasitic herb while can serve as its host. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the communication between and its host remained largely unexplored. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive view of transferred metabolites and mobile mRNAs exchanged between and .

Results: The wide-target metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis identified 5 transferred metabolites (ethylsalicylate, eriodictyol-7-O-glucoside, aromadendrin-7-O-glucoside, pruvuloside B, 2-ethylpyrazine) and 50 mobile genes between and , as well as haustoria formation related 56 metabolites and 44 genes. There were 4 metabolites (ethylsalicylate, eriodictyol-7-O-glucoside, aromadendrin-7-O-glucoside and pruvuloside B) that are transferred from to , whereas 2-ethylpyrazine was transferred in the opposite direction. Furthermore, we inferred a regulatory network potentially involved in haustoria formation, where three metabolites (N,N'-Dimethylarginine/SDMA, NG,NG-Dimethyl-L-arginine, 2-Acetoxymethyl-anthraquinone) showed significant positive correlations with the majority of haustoria formation-related genes.

Conclusions: These results suggested that there was an extensive exchange of information with including transferred metabolites and mobile mRNAs, which might facilitate the haustoria formation and parasition of .