Multifaceted Strategies Used by Root-Knot Nematodes to Parasitize Plants-A Review

Root-knot nematodes being omnipresent in agricultural and horticultural soils are tallied among the most important economic pathogens around theworld. For successful parasitism, these nematodes use various strategies to controland manipulate the host plant’s cell machinery. These strategies include the molecular mimicry of some host genes by some nematode secreted effector proteins,secretion of cell wall digesting enzymes and other effector proteins that areresponsible for the suppression of defence by the host plant. All these secretionswhich are released through the stylet, contribute to the formation of specializedfeeding sites or giant cells. The effector proteins interfere with the normal physiology, cytology and biochemistry of the host plant. The present review brings novelinsights by summarizing some novel effectors that have been discovered recentlylike MgPDI, MiMIF, MiIDL1, MiISE6, Mg16820, etc. It also discusses somenovel mechanisms through which these effector proteins target different pathwaysof host plants and thus facilitate nematode parasitism.