Plant parasitic weeds belonging to the Orobanchaceae family are the major threat for global food security. They are challenging to control because their life cycle is intimately intertwined with the host physiology. Furthermore, most of the damage on the host occurs while these parasites are at the subterranean life cycle stages. The interaction between the hosts and the parasitic weeds mainly takes place in the rhizosphere where lively microbial activity takes place. However, In the past decades, most studies on host-parasite interactions focused on genetics, biochemistry, and physiology, while the plant-associated microbiome was kept aside, neglecting its value as a source of unmeasured host genetic variation. In my talk, I will discuss the reciprocal interactions between Sorghum and the parasitic weed Striga hermonthica, at the microbiome level, by emphasizing on the impact the microbiome has on the fitness of both the parasite and the host. https://www.wur.nl/en/Persons/Desalegn-dr.-DW-Desalegn-Etalo.htm