Basis and development of molecular approaches to nematode resistance

Project Information

Grant agreement ID: BIO4960318

Project closed

Start date 1 October 1996

End date 30 September 1999

Funded under

• Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of biotechnology, 1994-1998

Total cost No data

EU contribution No data

Coordinated by

FLANDERS INTERUNIVERSITY INSTITUTE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY VZW
Belgium

Exploitable results

Basis and development of molecular approaches to nematode resistance

Plant parasitic nematodes are economically important pests in Europe are mainly controlled by combining resistant varieties and nematicides. Resistant varieties often perform poorly with respect to agronomic traits or are even not available for some crops. Nematicides are highly toxic and non-specific agrochemical that poses a hazard for consumers health and for the environment. This project with 12 research groups, involving seven EU countries has started to unravel the molecular details of the plant nematode interaction. Their objective is to use biotechnology to prevent parasite development and reproduction, and consequently plant damage. The teams strategy is to genetically engineer the crops in two directions: the production of very specific anti-nematode substances in the roots, and the scheduled collapse, triggered by the nematode attack, of the specialized root cells that nematodes need for their development. The most important results obtained in this project are - the identification of specific proteins obtained in the nematode secretions and the isolation of the corresponding genes. In this way it has been shown that the secretions contain cellulases and hydrophobic ligand proteins (sec2). Both types of proteins are now available in large quantities from production in heterologous systems. The function of these proteins in the plant nematode interactions is being studied in more detail. Other proteins in the secretions included superoxide dismutase, proteases and thiroredoxin peroxide. Expression of antibodies that inactive these proteins should make plants resistant to nematode infection. - Isolation and characterization of plant sequences that are promoting expression of genes rather specifically in the nematode infection sites of plant roots. These 'promoters' are very useful for applications, to target expression of certain products (RNA antisense, proteins) preferentially to the nematode infection sites. It is indeed undesirable to produce 'foreign' proteins in other plant tissues than were they are really needed, and using the selected promoters these 'foreign' proteins are not produced in the plants parts destined for consumption such as leaves, fruits etc.