Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #101114

Title: USING CDNA ARRAYS TO EXAMINE THE RESPONSE OF SOYBEAN TO SCN

Author
item Matthews, Benjamin

Submitted to: Focus
Publication Type: Trade Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/18/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The soybean cyst nematode is the most important pest of soybean and causes an estimated one billion dollars worth of damage each year in the United States. The nematode causes leaf yellowing and stunts leaf and root growth. I am comparing the response of soybean cultivars that are resistant and sensitive to soybean cyst nematode at the molecular level. This will identify which genes are expressed in resistant lines and at what levels, indicating which genes may be more important in conferring resistance. We constructed a library of genes expressed in soybean two days after nematode invasion using the resistant soybean cultivar, Peking. We isolated more than two hundred clones from the library and obtained DNA sequence from them. Computer analysis of the DNA sequences helped to identify some of the genes expressed in the resistant cultivar. This information may lead to improving soybean resistance to the soybean cyst nematode through breeding and genetic engineering. This information is useful to scientists interested in pest resistance in plants.

Technical Abstract: The soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, is the most important pest of soybean, Glycine max, and causes an estimated one billion dollars worth of damage each year in the United States. The nematode causes leaf yellowing and stunts leaf and root growth. The inductionof genes involved in resistance of soybean to SCN was examined by isolating individual cDNA clones from a cDNA library made from mRNA extracted from soybean roots and leaves two days after nematode invasion. The cDNAs were placed in individual wells of a microtiter dish. Replicate plates were archived in a -70 C. More than two hundred clones from the library were sequenced and analyzed by computer to identify by similarity some of the genes expressed in the resistant cultivar. This information may lead to improving soybean resistance to the soybean cyst nematode through breeding and genetic engineering. This information is useful to scientists interested in pest resistance in plants.