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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Mississippi State, Mississippi » Crop Science Research Laboratory » Genetics and Sustainable Agriculture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #233740
Title: Transcript analysis of sedentary female reniform nematodes identifies potential targets ofr RNAi-mediated resistance

Author
item Wubben, Martin
item Callahan, Franklin
item Scheffler, Brian
item Jenkins, Johnie

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/16/2008
Publication Date: 1/5/2009
Citation: Wubben, M., Callahan, F.E., Scheffler, B.E., Jenkins, J.N. 2009. Transcript analysis of sedentary female reniform nematodes identifies potential targets ofr RNAi-mediated resistance [abstract]. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. p. 179.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: RNA-interference (RNAi) has become an attractive avenue of research in the development of crop resistance to sedentary plant-parasitic nematodes. A prerequisite for this type of research is the availability of high quality gene sequence data for the nematode in question. The reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis) is a damaging pest of Upland cotton that may be vulnerable to an RNAi-based control strategy; however, there is currently an extremely limited amount of gene sequence data available for this pest. In this report, we describe the construction and analysis of a cDNA library that was created using total RNA isolated from sedentary female reniform nematodes. A total of 2,784 cDNA clones were sequenced which produced 555 unique non-overlapping R. reniformis expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Bioinformatic analyses of these ESTs identified >60 sequences that showed significant homology (P<1.0e-15) to Caenorhabditis elegans genes that present lethal phenotypes following RNAi. A number of R. reniformis ESTs also showed homology to sequences derived from sedentary and migratory plant-parasitic nematodes and some animal parasites. The details of these analyses and their implications for the development of RNAi-mediated reniform nematode resistance in cotton will be discussed.