Female reniform nematodes (stained pink) parasitizing a cotton root (scale bar = 100 m).  Photo courtesy of project collaborator Dr. Martin Wubben (USDA-ARS).

RENIFORM NEMATODE GENOME

Reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis) currently accounts for $130M in annual losses to the U.S. cotton industry and has supplanted root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) as the major nematode pest of cotton in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama.  Moreover, in other cotton-producing states the range and influence of reniform nematode is growing rapidly.  As there is no natural resistance to reniform nematode in Gossypium hirsutum germplasm, plant breeders have been working to introgress resistance from other cotton species into upland cotton lines.  However, natural R. reniformis populations possess considerable genetic variability, and thus it is probable that resistance-breaking nematode populations/races will not take long to emerge/evolve.

Through partnerships with Mississippi State University's Life Sciences & Biotechnology Institute and the USDA-ARS's Genetics and Precision Agriculture Research Unit, MGEL will use massively-parallel synthesis sequencing technology coupled with BAC-based physical mapping to sequence the genome of R. reniformis. This work should help us gain a better understanding of the molecular genetic pathways that underlie reniform nematode physiology and development.  Selective disruption of one or more of these pathways represents a highly-targeted means of reducing damage caused by the reniform nematode.

Juvenile female reniform nematode as viewed with a compound microscope.