Skip to main content
Skip to navigation

Mitchum lab clones the first gene linked to natural soybean cyst nematode resistance

Feeding cells initiated by infective second-stage juveniles of soybean cyst nematode degenerate in resistant soybean plants by an unknown mechanism


IPG member Melissa Mitchum and her lab members Pramod Kandoth, Greg Yeckel, Robert Heinz, and John Alden are featured in the October 15th online issue of Nature for their work cloning the first gene linked to natural soybean cyst nematode resistance.

The soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines) is the most economically important soybean pathogen, responsible for nearly $1 billion annually in yield losses in the United States. The cloning of the SHMT (serine hydroxymethyltransferase) gene provides a major step forward in understanding the mechanisms controlling nematode resistance in soybean.

Read more about the Mitchum's lab discovery.

Full-text Nature article.

This work was completed in collaboration with Dmitry Korkin and Samantha Warren, IPG members in the Department of Computer Science, Khalid Meksem and lab members at Southern Illinois University, and researchers at Iowa State University.

Image: Feeding cells initiated by infective second-stage juveniles of soybean cyst nematode degenerate in resistant soybean plants by an unknown mechanism.