EVES-VAN DEN AKKER , Sebastian

Plant parasitic nematodes need to overcome the barrier presented by the plant cell wall in order to invade their host. A variety of plant cell wall degrading enzymes are present in endoparasitic nematodes including enzymes that degrade cellulose (beta 1,4 endoglucanases) and various pectin components. We describe the cloning and functional...

Nematodes have evolved the ability to parasitize plants on at least four independent occasions, with plant parasites present in Clades 1, 2, 10 and 12 of the phylum. In the case of Clades 10 and 12, horizontal gene transfer of plant cell wall degrading enzymes from bacteria and fungi has been implicated in the evolution of plant parasitism. We...

Abstract Plant-parasitic nematodes are a major threat to crop production in all agricultural systems. The scarcity of classical resistance genes highlights a pressing need to find new ways to develop nematode-resistant germplasm. Here, we sequence and assemble a high-quality phased genome of the model cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii to...