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Articles

Biochemical Aspects of Parasitism by the Angiosperm Parasites I. Phosphate Fractions in the Leaves of Loranthus and Hosts ¹

Department of Biochemistry, Lucknow University, Lucknow, U.P., India

The leaves of Dendrophthoe falcata growing on different trees had differing dry solid content. With 1 exception, the parasite leaf contained less dry solid than host leaf.

A characteristic feature of the loranthus parasite was the accumulation of phosphate in excess of that present in host leaves. Expressed as percent of the total phosphorus, the parasite tissue contained significantly less acid-insoluble phosphate than the host leaves. When the acid-insoluble material was fractionated into phospholipid, RNA, DNA and phosphoprotein, every component was found to be present in a smaller amount in parasite than in host leaf, expressed as percent of total phosphate in leaves.

A comparative study of the phosphate fractions in the infected and uninfected branch of infected host tree revealed that, without exception, there was a demonstrable increase in the DNA content of the infected branch.

¹ This investigation was supported by grants from the United States Department of Agriculture under a P.L. 480 programme.