A Developmental Genomics Approach to Identify Meloidogyne Incognita Resistance in Gossypium hirsutum

The study of biological processes has been greatly aided by the development of procedures to identify large numbers of genes. However, the ability to study the identified genes experimentally is often impeded by the absence of technologies to perform such studies. Here, a plant transformation system has been adapted for the study of genes associated with root functions in Gossypium. The root knot nematode (RKN), Meloidogyne incognita is responsible for considerable production loss in the production of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Overexpression of two candidate resistance genes in Gossypium hirsutum root leads to the reduction of Meloidogyne incognita population in its host roots. The plant transformation system is compatible for modern high throughput transformation of genes and the processing for large numbers of genes.