Comparative genomic studies on root-knot nematode species (Meloidogyne spp.) in Switzerland and Europe

• Research unit: COST
• Project number: C07.0072

Key words (English)

Comparative genomics; Cytochrome oxidase I; Meloiddogyne spp.; diagnostics

Research programs (English)

COST-Action 872 - Exploiting genomics to understand plant-nematode interactions

Short description (English)

Comparative genomics for root-knot nematodes

Partners and International Organizations (English)

AT, BE, CH, DE, ES, FR, GR, IE, IL, IT, NL, NO, PL, PT, SE, SI, TR, UK

Abstract (English)

Root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) pose a significant risk to the agricultural production systems in Switzerland and all over Europe. The most important species M. incognita, M. javanica, M. arenaria and M. hapla are of particular economic importance. Furthermore, M. chitwoodi and M. fallax as well as M. enterolobii (synonym M. mayaguensis) and M. minor have gained importance as quarantine organisms or new emerging and extremely pathogenic species. To ensure that appropriate management strategies are at hand to protect the Swiss and European agriculture and that quarantine nematodes are detected and eradicated, reliable and quick diagnostic tools are needed. The advancements in molecular techniques have led to a change in the diagnostics of root-knot nematodes. Diagnostic approaches, which directly target polymorphisms in the genomic DNA, avoid the effect of life stage or environmental factors, and can give accurate and quick results. In view of the problems involving the use of ribosomal ITS sequences, this project studied the use of the mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene for nematode species diagnostics. COI is already the standard gene for molecular species diagnostics in many organisms and thus offers versatile baseline information to differentiate all economically important Meloidogyne species. During this project primers for the COI gene in Meloidogyne spp. were designed with special emphasis on quarantine nematodes. Sequence information based on the COI and IGS2 region was obtained on intra- and inter-species variation of the eight most important Meloidogyne spp. for Switzerland and the European Union. These data allow for a rapid identification of the relevant quarantine and other important root-knot nematode species and build the bases for the development of new diagnostic tools for detection and identification.

References in databases (English)

Swiss Database: COST-DB of the State Secretariat for Education and Research Hallwylstrasse 4 CH-3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. [phone] Swiss Project-Number: C07.0072