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Holoparasitic Rafflesiaceae possess the most reduced endophytes and yet give rise to the world's largest flowers

Nikolov LA 1 , Tomlinson PB 2 , Manickam S 3 , Endress PK 4 , Kramer EM 1 , Davis CC 5

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
  • 2 The Kampong, National Tropical Botanical Garden, 4013 Douglas Road, Miami, FL 33133, USA
  • 3 Rimba Ilmu Botanic Garden, Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and
  • 4 Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zurich, Zollikerstrasse 107, CH-8008 Zurich, Switzerland
  • 5 Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA cdavis@oeb.harvard.edu
Ann Bot, 2014 Aug;114(2):233-42.
PMID: 24942001 DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcu114

Abstract

Species in the holoparasitic plant family Rafflesiaceae exhibit one of the most highly modified vegetative bodies in flowering plants. Apart from the flower shoot and associated bracts, the parasite is a mycelium-like endophyte living inside their grapevine hosts. This study provides a comprehensive treatment of the endophytic vegetative body for all three genera of Rafflesiaceae (Rafflesia, Rhizanthes and Sapria), and reports on the cytology and development of the endophyte, including its structural connection to the host, shedding light on the poorly understood nature of this symbiosis.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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