Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum cultivar Samsun plants carrying the wild sugar beet Hs1pro1 gene have resistance to root-knot nematodes

Nematodes are the principal animal parasites of plants, causing annual crop losses of more than US$100 billion worldwide. Conventional control measures against nematode infection include toxic nematicide application to soil, crop rotation practices, and classical breeding approaches. However, due to the limitations of each technique, biotechnology presents itself as an effective alternative in nematode control. To date, several resistance genes against nematodes have been cloned. One such gene, Hs1pro1, cloned from wild sugar beet, Beta procumbens, shows resistance to the cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii. Recent studies showed that Hs1pro1 has a broad target pathogen range. In this study, we transformed Nicotiana tabacum cultivar Samsun plants with the Hs1pro1 gene and assayed transgenic plants for nematode resistance. Our analysis suggests that compared to wild-type plants, Hs1pro1-carrying transgenic plants are more resistant to 2 different root-knot nematode species, Meloidogyne incognita and Meloidogyne javanica. The results in this study support previous findings of the broad host range of Hs1pro1 and are promising in terms of the genetic engineering of economically important susceptible crop plants such as potato and tomato against nematode and secondary damage from other soil-pathogen damage.