Expression profiling of the response of Arabidopsis thaliana in mature feeding sites formed by Meloidogyne incognita.. Arabidopsis thaliana

Meloidogyne incognita is an obligate endoparasite of plants. This nematode inhabits the soil and infects the root systems of susceptible plants. The nematodes migrate within the root and establish a feeding site from plant xylem parenchymal cells which are stimulated by the nematode to become multinucleate giant cells surrounded by hypertrophic tissue that forms a gall. These giant cells act as transfer cells and supply the parasitic nematode with all of its nutritional requirements during the course of its 3-8 week lifecycle. Little is known about the molecular changes induced in the feeding site by the nematode to facilitate this process. Microarray analysis was therefore performed using whole genome Arabidopsis microarrays with RNA obtained from feeding sites formed by M. incognita in Arabidopsis. Feeding sites were extracted from roots at 21 days post infection and the gene expression profile compared to that in uninfected roots.