RS (Rahul) Lathe

Research:

Plant-parasitic nematodes are among the rapidly spreading agricultural pathogens, posing a growing threat to global food security. The most sustainable control strategy is cultivating resistant crops. However, current resistance relies on major dominant R-genes, often overcome by new resistance-breaking virulent nematode populations. Furthermore, some of the major nematode R-genes are temperature-sensitive and lose effectivity under current climate change-driven soil warming conditions (>28°C), urgently forcing us to shift toward R-gene-independent resistance. This need is especially evident for the most economically damaging sedentary root-knot (Meloidogyne spp.) and cyst nematodes (Heterodera and Globodera spp.).

Despite their importance, rational breeding strategies for R-gene-independent resistance are lacking, as the molecular mechanisms governing fundamental processes of sedentary parasitism, such as feeding cell development—the nematodes' sole food source—remain poorly understood. Feeding cells, ranging from single expanded cells to multinucleate syncytia, evolved multiple times within the phylum Nematoda. This suggests that primitive feeding cells reflect successive stages in the ontogeny of advanced feeding sites induced by root-knot and cyst nematodes. In this project, integrating spatial transcriptomics and live-cell imaging, we aim to decode the molecular framework of feeding cell development, paving the way for novel resistance strategies against these pervasive pests.