Dr. Charles Opperman, professor of plant pathology at NC State, co-director of the Center for the Biology of Nematode Parasitism and the primary investigator for the grant, says the research may help lead to novel means of managing the ubiquitous worm. The resulting sequence data will be made public, so other researchers interested in certain aspects of the root-knot nematode how it develops, establishes a host-parasite interaction or evades host defenses, for example will then be able to use the map of the parasite's genes as a tool to discover more specific information about the parasite. The root-knot nematode will be the first parasitic nematode to have its genome sequenced, Opperman says.
Arguably the single most important plant parasitic nematode, Opperman estimates the root-knot nematode causes more than half of the $100 billion in crop and plant damage caused by nematodes yearly. It infects some 2,000 plant species, causing galls or knots on the roots of its victims. It is also an ubiquitous pest for the home gardener.
"Root-knot nematodes invade behind the root tip and migrate to the area of the plant where water and nutrients are transported. A female root-knot nematode will then become sedentary and produce as many as 1,000 eggs in 30 days, which will hatch and re-infect the roots. So you can have multiple generations infecting plants in one season," Opperman says.
Above ground, infected plants will show stunted growth or become yellowed or wilted. The root-knot nematode does not discriminate, infecting peanuts, tomatoes and soybeans, just to name a
'"/>
8-Dec-2004