Project Number: 1275-21220-221-17
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Oct 01, 2006
End Date: Sep 30, 2009

Objective:
The objective of this cooperative research project is to identify genes important in resistance of soybean to the soybean cyst nematode and to develop soybean plants with broad resistance to soybean cyst nematode.

Approach:
Soybean genes expressed during nematode invasion will be identified that may be used to broaden resistance to SCN through soybean transformation or targeted mutations. Virtually nothing is known about the resistance or susceptible response of soybean to SCN. These genes can be over- or under-expressed in soybean roots and challenged with SCN. Genes will be identified that are up-regulated during the resistance response using microarrays or genes localized to know SCN resistance quantitative trail loci (QTLs). These up-regulated genes will be over-expressed using strong constitutive promoters or under-expressed using RNA interference. Transgenic roots with altered expression profiles for candidate resistance-associated genes will be challenged with different races of SCN and the resistance profile examined.