This $514,102 Project Grant from the US Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program (CFDA 10.310) will fund research at Texas Tech University investigating an alternative non-toxic solution for controlling plant-parasitic nematodes. The project focuses on naturally occurring bacteria found within nematodes that may drive their survival and impact on plants. It aims to generate the first coherent picture of how these nematode-inhabiting bacteria function and therein impact crop-damaging nematodes and crops. The interdisciplinary research will examine interactions between bacteria, nematodes and plants under stressors like climate change using global sampling, genome sequencing, multi-omics methods, and growing symbiont-cleared nematodes. It also includes bioinformatics, genomics and rhizosphere citizen science educational programs to train underrepresented groups in agricultural sciences.