Nematode Interactions Unit

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The work of the Nematode Interactions Unit (NIU)

Nematode attraction to the root zone of elongation

Members of the NIU conduct internationally competitive research and provide training on the interactions between plant parasitic nematodes in the rhizosphere of crop plants, which are studied at the molecular, whole organism and population scales.

Research is focused on signalling processes that are used by nematodes to locate their host plants and on interactions with the rhizosphere microbial community, especially those organisms that have potential as biological control agents. Plant signalling and nematode reception processes are investigated in hosts and non-hosts, including trap crops such as Solanum sisymbriiofolium, to affect the behaviour of the infective juveniles of cyst and root-knot nematodes in the rhizosphere and their migration to feeding sites within the root. Enzymes that alter nematode secretions and compounds that prime plant defence mechanisms are also investigated. Such research will provide chemical and genetic interventions to reduce plant infection rates.

A nematode trap crop, Solanum sisymbriiofolium

We study the functional diversity, ecology and nutrition of the fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia, a facultative parasite of nematode eggs and sedentary females and on the host specificity and genomics of the bacterium, Pasteuria penetrans, an obligate parasite of cyst and root-knot nematodes. Research on the fungus aims to optimise the performance of specific isolates and the amount of inoculum required for nematode control whereas research on the bacterium is to provide genes for novel methods of nematode management.

The work of the NIU involves collaborations with colleagues at Rothamsted with expertise in plant science, chemical and microbial ecology and mathematical modelling.  An exciting development is our involvement in a UK consortium with the Welcome Sanger Institute and the Scottish Crops Research Institute and led by the University of Leeds, which aims to sequence the genome of the potato cyst nematode, Globodera pallida. Also, the NIU has a long-standing formal link with the Centre for the Biology of Nematode Parasitism at North Carolina State University, which currently targets research on the genome of P. penetrans. More details of these and other research activities can be found within the pages for individual staff members (see staff list) and projects.

A serine proteinase that is a host range and virulence determinant in Pochonia chlamydosporia	Pasteuria penetrans spore attachments