Genomic Resources for the Study of Cotton-Reniform Nematode Interactions

Alabama A&M University, Normal AL

Investigators

Abstract

PI: Ramesh Kantety (Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University) CoPIs: Elica S. Moss (Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University) and Katheryn S. Lawrence (Auburn University, subawardee) Collaborators: Yong-Li Xiao (J. Craig Venter Institute, Inc., subawardee) and Bruce Roe (University of Oklahoma - Norman, subawardee) Cotton is the most extensively cultivated natural fiber in the world. However cotton requires intensive management in order to control pests and pathogens. Damage to cotton caused by nematodes alone is poised to reach $1 billion in the near future; thus far there are no cotton cultivars resistant to reniform nematodes. Interaction of reniform nematodes with cotton roots elicit complex plant responses at biochemical, morphological and physiological levels which in turn are regulated by transcriptional, translational, and environmental signals. To help address such phenomena, various cotton species will be characterized for their responses to the reniform nematode infection while building much needed functional genomic resources. The project will develop and sequence cDNA and small RNA libraries from cotton roots infected with reniform or root-knot nematodes as well as from cotton roots treated with various elicitors of plant defense responses. Four cotton species which react differently to the reniform nematode infection will be included in these studies. Sequences generated will be used in the development of microarrays that can then be used in the functional genomic studies of cotton-reniform nematode interactions. The genomic data generated in this project will be shared with cotton research community to facilitate the development of unigenes sets for cotton roots, global gene expression tools, and comparative genomic analyses in silico. EST sequences will be deposited at the National Center for Biotechnology Information at http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. All research outcomes will be made available publicly on the project website at http://reniform.aamu.edu. Educational outcomes and resources will be available at the project website and through http://www.plantgdb.org/PGROP/pgrop.php. Broader Impacts: Reniform nematode is the most important emerging pest of cotton in the US and its damage has been significantly rising every year for the last decade. This project aims to develop resources to understand the global gene expression changes during susceptible and resistant responses of cotton roots when infected with reniform nematodes. The resulting information can aid geneticists, plant breeders and biotechnologists in devising effective strategies for the control of reniform nematodes. This project undertakes outreach and training of 7-12 graders up to post-doctoral level with a major emphasis on underrepresented minorities and science teachers from at-risk schools located in the Black Belt regions of Alabama.