Abstract:

Being sessile, plants have evolved to develop intricate innate defense mechanisms that allow them to recognize potential invading pathogens and to mount successful defenses. I will initially present our current state of understanding about plant pathogen interaction and will then present in this context our own research work involving plant-nematode interaction. Plant endoparasitic nematodes (cyst and root-knot nematodes) are the major pest in crop plants. Potato cyst (Globodera species) and root-knot (Meloidogyne species) are obligate biotrophs and it take between 3-6 weeks to complete their life cycle in the host roots. Roots are invaded by infective juveniles (J2) and develop feeding sites with highly modified host cells. Feeding cells formation is activated by nematode secretions, which causes dramatic morphological and physiological changes in root cells and converts them into nutrient sink. Earlier, we have cloned and characterized a tomato gene (Hero) that confers resistance against both Globodera species. Recently, we have taken whole genome-wide approaches to investigate genes from tomato that are involved in disease development during root-knot nematode infection by transcriptome and miRNAome analyses. We have shown that a set of genes and miRNAs from tomato are up- and down-regulated at various stages of disease development and these are likely to play an important role in determining the outcome of plant-nematode interaction.

Host: Anjan Banerjee