Decades of researches in biochemical and molecular nematology at IARI

Like any other branch of Agricultural Sciences, the Division of Nematology at IARI, initiated researches in the exciting field of biochemistry and molecular biology of plant parasitic nematodes during the early seventies of last century. The main research areas were biochemical mechanism of resistance against phytonematodes and diagnostics of economically important plant parasitic nematodes. Specific isozymes have been identified for differentiating the important root knot nematodes species of India belonging to the genus Meloiodogyne. Further, molecular markers like RAPDs, AFLP, SSRs and PCR–RFLP of rDNA have been employed to study the molecular genetic diversity in major root knot and cyst nematode species of India to assist the breeding program for developing resistant varieties and other purposes like regulatory and nematode diagnostics. Attempts have also been to made to understand the molecular signaling events during compatible plant nematode interactions by identifying the genes during the transition from preparasitic to parasitic stage in ear cockle nematode and molya disease of wheat. Currently attempts are being made to utilize RNAi technology to identify the genes targets for the management of root knot and cyst nematodes. In this paper some of the success stories of the technology developed by the scientists at IARI are discussed.