Stepping down the evolutionary stairway of feeding cell induction by plant parasitic nematodes with spatial transcriptomics at near-cellular level to design resistant crops

Plant-parasitic nematodes are considered the most rapidly spreading plant pathogens in agriculture and pose an increasing threat to global food security. Cryo-sectioning will be combined with next generation mRNA sequencing (RNA tomography) to identify key evolutionary transitions that have led to the development of the extravagant and complex feeding cells induced by root-knot and cyst nematodes, their sole food source. Evolutionary transitions will be identified by a comparative analysis of basal and sister lineages within different clades of the phylum Nematoda. Blocking these key transitions by targeted mutagenesis will open new avenues to design cultivars with novel resistances.