Vol. 12, Issue 5 (2023)

Author(s):
Sachin Gangwar and Anil Sirohi

Abstract:
In present scenario, Root-knot nematodes are the major threat to the agriculture, causing both direct and indirect damage. RKNs (Meloidogyne incognita) are exceedingly evolved obligate sedentary plant endoparasites with highly complex parasitism strategy. Developing resistance in plants is a promising way to deal with RKNs problem. RNA interference (RNAi) is a novel method through which plants can be modified to develop resistance against specific pest. Splicing factor and integrase are two housekeeping genes in Meloidogyne incognita. Host induced gene silencing (HIGs) of these two genes was performed simultaneously in the target organism through crossing the parents which were already transformed to express the dsRNA of each gene individually. The resultant progeny, expressing dsRNA for both of the genes was subjected to bioassay studies. The results showed a significant reduction in pathogenic and reproductive capability of Meloidogyne incognita. The number of galls, number of females and number of egg masses were recorded were in the range of 71.81-74.39%, 76.73-78.76% and 67.13-70.27% respectively as compared to the untransformed events. The results reflected the enhanced effect of combinatorial gene silencing as compared to the single gene silencing and no gene silencing at all.