What is host and haustoria and are they interconnected?
The biological definition of a host is an organism that harbors another organism inside or near their body in a symbiotic or a parasitic relationship. Therefore, the other organism in both symbiotic and parasitic interaction benefits from the host. The host benefits in a symbiotic relationship but it gets affected in a parasitic relationship.
Haustorium is the extended structures of roots or stems originating from parasitic plants or hyphae of fungi. As the fungi infects the plant or parasites tend to grow together with the host, the haustorium helps the plants and fungi to draw nutrients and water directly from the host.
Therefore, haustoria and host are interconnected because this structure is present inside the tissues of the host and draws the nutrients out of the host to the parasite.