The Trustees of Indiana University received a three-year, $180,000 Project Grant award from the United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The grant will fund research into soybean cyst nematode effector proteins and their interactions with soybean plant immune responses and genes. Specifically, the principal investigator will study 11 uncharacterized soybean cyst nematode effector proteins to understand their specific functions and identify the plant pathways they disrupt. This will include investigating whether the proteins interfere with plant immunity and identifying the specific plant proteins they target. The targeted plant genes will then be removed from soybean roots using genome editing to determine the roles they play in nematode infection. Results from this research are expected to lay an important foundation for exploring plant pathways and proteins of interest in developing new soybean varieties resistant to soybean cyst nematode infection. Outcomes may also provide insight into how other plant-parasitic nematodes establish infection. The research will be mentored by experts in plant-pathogen interactions and nematology.
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