Towards understanding how plant cell function is changed during root-knot nematode parasitism

Abstract

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) are a major parasite of plants, causing approximately 5% loss of total agriculture world-wide. RKN are sedentary endoparasites that establish a single permanent feeding site within plant roots as a juvenile, and then spend their whole remaining life-cycle at this single site. This is achieved by inducing normal plant cells to change into a new specialised cell-type, a Giant Cell (GC), that functions as a nutrient transfer cell. The pathway for formation of a GC from a normal plant cell remains unclear, mainly due to the difficulties in directly studying the early infection stages hidden within the host root. Using the tomato variety Micro-Tom as a model system, we have initiated a forward genetics approach to identify host genes involved in RKN-induced GC formation and are also studying the early GC cells directly. Lab home page: http://gotolab.cris.hokudai.ac.jp