Method for Analyzing an Infection Process of Plant-parasitic Nematodes Using a Microfluidic Device

Abstract

Plant-parasitic nematodes cause the significant damage to agricultural crops all over the world. To establish an environmental-friendly method for managing the plant-parasitic nematodes, understanding the infection process is important. In this paper, we present a new method for analyzing an effect of external stimulation on the infection process of plant-parasitic nematodes, Meloidogyne incognita or root-knot nematode, by using a microfluidic device integrated with micropillar array. We estimated the applied mechanical stresses, which act as the external stimulation, on the gall (or root knot) by using the contact analysis based on finite elemental method. By using the developed analytical system, we clearly observed the growth behavior of the growing roots infected with the plant-parasitic nematodes. The experimental results suggest that the mechanical stress might effectively inhibit the growth of the gall formed by the infection of root-knot nematodes.