RNA transfer between woody shrubs and herbaceous parasitic plant

Cistanche deserticola (Orobanceae) is a desert plant with high medicinal value, and it is a holoparasitic herb which parasitizes on the roots of woody plant Haloxylon ammodendron (Chenopodiaceae). Exchanges of biomolecules such as mRNA, siRNA and protein were reported for host plant and interacting pathogens including parasitic plants. Here, we identified mobile mRNAs between C. deserticola and H. ammodendron through next-generation transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, and the character, function and trend of mobile mRNA were investigated.