For the average person, nematodes may not come to mind when addressing global agriculture, but University researchers’ work proves differently.

In 2006, plant pathology professor Richard Hussey along with assistant research scientist Guozhong Huang discovered how to genetically create nematode-resistant plants to improve agricultural practices. Their work has since improved scientists’ basic understanding of which genes enable nematodes to be parasites.

Hussey received a National Research Initiative Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the research. Nematodes – aquatic organisms with unsegmented, cylindrical bodies – are commonly referred to as roundworms.

In humans, hookworms and pinworms are the most studied types of nematodes.

Hussey and colleagues study the root-knot nematode – the most economically important nematode, which infects some 2,000 plant species.

After the nematode breaks through the cell wall, plant molecules send signals that prohibit the nematode from feeding on the plant, Hussey said.

Since 2006, Hussey has worked to expand his research in different crops and he said he wants to duplicate his work in cyst nematodes, which are more economically damaging in Georgia.

Hussey’s research targeted a gene in the gland of root-knot nematodes that allows the parasite to create a feeding site in the plant’s cell.

Hussey and colleagues used RNA interference for their research. RNA interference – developed by Nobel Prize recipients Andrew Fire and Craig Mello – prevents messenger RNA from producing proteins.

“This approach revolutionized biology,” Hussey said. “It allows us to pinpoint the function of certain genes that we initially knew nothing about.”

With parasitic nematodes causing damages of $77 billion a year world wide, Hussey’s research provides a long-term economic solution to food production. Since root-knot nematode resistance in plants can be issued through plant seeds, the next step requires seed production companies to adopt the technology.

“Delivering resistance through seed [supplies] is cheaper and more sustainable,” Hussey said. “The cost of distributing pesticides to crops requires gas [for the vehicle], labor, equipment and the pesticides themselves – which are extremely expensive.”

With world food security issues rising, the research is a pragmatic alternative to pest management.

“We have learned how to turn biology against itself,” he said.