A receptor-like kinase enhances sunflower resistance to Orobanche cumana

Orobanche cumana (sunflower broomrape) is an obligate parasitic plant that infects sunflower roots, causing yield losses. Here, by using a map-based cloning strategy, we identified HaOr7—a gene that confers resistance to O. cumana race F—which was found to encode a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase. The complete HAOR7 protein is present in resistant lines of sunflower and prevents O. cumana from connecting to the vascular system of sunflower roots, whereas susceptible lines encode a truncated protein that lacks transmembrane and kinase domains.