Developmental trajectories of giant cells induced by Meloidogyne incognita in tomato determined by single-cell RNA-sequencing

Plant-parasitic root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne species) are highly polyphagous parasites that infect a wide variety of plants, including economically important crops. These parasites modulate cellular identity of terminally differentiated root cells to induce the formation of giant-cells and knot-like structures (galls), creating new organs in infected plant roots. In this study, we generated single cell RNA-seq data of galls and neighboring root tissues at two distinct stages of M. incognita infection of tomato plants. We generated single-cell transcriptome of Meloidogyne incognita–induced galls on tomato roots at 5- and 10-day post infection (dpi), which represent early- and fully-developed galls. At the same infection stages, about 1 cm of gall-neighboring root tissues were also collected and used as control.