Project description:The cereal cyst nematode (CCN, Heterodera avenae) is a major pest of wheat (Triticum spp) that reduces crop yields in many countries. Cyst nematodes are obligate sedentary endoparasites that reproduce by amphimixis. Here, we report the first transcriptome analysis of two parasitic stages of H. avenae.
Project description:Cereal cyst nematode (Heterodera avenae) can be attracted by wheat roots before infestation, while largely is unknown underlying this phenomenon. Here, we examined the transcriptional responses of both wheat roots and nematodes during the attraction stage by mRNA sequencing analysis (with and without reference genome, respectively). We found that consistent with their respective mobility, the immobile host wheat root only had 93 DEGs (27 up-regulated and 66 down-regulated), while the mobile plant parasitic nematode H. avenae reacted much more actively with 879 DEGs (867 up-regulated and 12 down-regulated). Among the DEGs, a number of wheat DEGs (most down-regulated) were involved in biotic stress pathways, while several putative effector genes (up-regulated) were found in the nematode DEGs. Results of the experiments demonstrated that nematode responds more actively than wheat during the attraction stage of parasitism, and the parasite responses mainly involved up-regulation whereas the host responses mainly involved down-regulation.
