Early development of the plant-parasitic nematode, Meloidogyne incognita

Meloidogyne incognita is an endoparasitic root knot nematode that uses the vascular system of plants, parasitizing multiple plant species, causing extensive damage. This study describes early embryogenesis of M. incognita. We looked at: (i) events that occurred prior to the first cellular division (ii) establishment of the founder cells and how these cells oriented spatially with respect to one another and (iii) whether programmed cell death (PCD) occurred during embryogenesis and, if so, at what stages. We used 4D-microscopy to identify early events in the single cell and cell division patterns, and confirmed these results by immunohistochemistry to identify cytoskeletal arrangement during embryogenesis. A TUNEL assay was used to localize cell corpses within the developing embryo. We conclude that M. incognita has a comparable developmental pattern to the model Caenorhabditis elegans, albeit slower M. incognita possibly establishes six founder cells and one germ cell. Like C. elegans, M. incognita uses PCD to eliminate cells during development.