UC Davis Doctoral Scholar Alison Coomer Wins International Nematode Thesis Competitors – Entomology & Nematology Information

Alison Coomer, UC Davis doctoral scholar

UC Davis second-year doctoral scholar Alison Coomer is now a worldwide champion.

Coomer, a member of the laboratory of nematologist Shahid Siddique of the UC Davis Division of Entomology and Nematology, simply gained a world-wide competitors sponsored by the Worldwide Federation of Nematology Societies (IFNS) for her three-minute thesis on root-knot nematodes.

She delivered her video presentation nearly on “Commerce-Offs Between Virulence and Breaking Resistance in Root-Knot Nematodes.” She will probably be awarded a busary and plaque on the seventh  Worldwide Congress of Nematology (ICN), set Might 1-6 in Antibes, France. 

Coomer earlier was chosen one of many 9 finalists within the 22-participant competitors, vying in opposition to eight different graduate college students from the College of Idaho, Moscow; and universities in England, Australia, Brazil, Eire, Kenya, Belgium and South Africa. 

“Our whole lab is glad for Alison successful this award,” mentioned Siddique. “That is an impressive efficiency and Alison has actually been working arduous for that. I really feel proud about it. I’m additionally wanting ahead to Alison‘s presentation at ICN.”

Shahid Siddique, nematologist and assistant professor described Alison Coomer’s presentation as excellent.(Picture by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Judges introduced that Rhys Copeland of Murdoch College, Australia, gained second, and Laura Sheehy of Liverpool John Moores College England,  scored third. Additionally they will obtain busaries and plaques on the seventh  Worldwide Congress of Nematology. (See the 9 finalists’ displays on this web site.)

Copeland mentioned “Figuring out the Spatial Distribution of Pratylenchus quasitereoides/Pratylenchus curvicauda within the WA Wheatbelt, and Understanding How They Discover Host Roots.”

Sheehy’s subject: Enhancing the Organic Management of Slugs: Understanding the Genome of Parasitic Nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita.”

IFNS hosts the competitors, IFNS 3-Minute Thesis, “to domesticate scholar educational and analysis communication expertise, and to boost total consciousness of nematodes and the science of nematology.”

Alison Coomer taking notes on an experiment involving cucumbers in a UC Davis greenhouse.

The competitors started with 22 contributors. Every was required to current solely a single static slide, and never use any props or sound-effects. Within the finals, a panel of judges–six nematologists and three non-experts from different areas of plant sciend science–scored them on the standard of their analysis presentation, skill to speak analysis to non-specialists, and the 3MT slide. 

In her presentation, Coomer started with: “Root-knot nematodes, particularly the MIG-group, consisting of Meloidogyne incognita, javanica, and arenaria, are essentially the most damaging of the plant parasitic nematodes inflicting extreme yield loss in over 2,000 totally different plant species together with tomatoes. The Mi-gene, which is a resistance gene in tomato, has been utilized in business farming and has been praised for its effectiveness in direction of the MIG group. This gene has been cloned however the mechanisms of the way it’s resistance works continues to be unknown.” 

“We do know that with the presence of the MI gene, vegetation are extra sturdy and can prohibit an infection and replica, by inducing an immune response throughout the plant,” Coomer pointed. “Though this resistance gene has been dependable for a lot of a long time, resistance breaking strains of root-knot nematodes have emerged threatening the tomato business.” 

Coomer associated that her analysis “compares two strains of the root-knot nematode M. javanica. One pressure is the wildtype, which has been remoted from fields, we are going to confer with it as VW4. This nematode can infect tomato vegetation, however when the MI gene is current, the nematode is blocked from efficiently infecting. The opposite pressure is a naturally mutated model of VW4. This pressure breaks the resistance supplied by the MI gene and due to this fact infects vegetation that comprise the MI gene. I’ve labeled this pressure as VW5. With the assistance of analysis like mine we are able to keep forward of the resistance breaking strains and stop main crop loss sooner or later.” 

A picture of root-knot nematodes (proven in pink) in contaminated tomato roots. This was stained with acid-fuchsin. 

“Sequencing the complete genome of VW5 when in comparison with VW4, we are able to see that there’s a giant deletion in its genome, however we have now but to search out out what genes have been deleted and the way necessary they’re in relation to infecting different vegetation,” she continued. “My analysis is specializing in what occurs after we infect the resistance breaking pressure, VW5 on vegetation not containing the MI gene.” 

Root galling on a tomato plant that’s contaminated with root-knot nematodes.

In detailing her analysis, she mentioned “My an infection assays have been designed as displayed by the circulation chart. Tomato and cucumber have been used since neither selection contained the MI gene. 500 J2s have been inoculated and at 34 days publish inoculation, roots have been harvested, and eggs have been collected. After staining, galls have been dissected, and nematode stage growth was recorded for juveniles and females; comparisons between the 2 roots have been made. As displayed by the graph and picture, persistently, we see a discount within the variety of eggs produced in vegetation contaminated with VW5 than with VW4. The picture additionally reveals important discount in galls for VW5s as effectively. Two foremost goals stay for this mission: How does VW5 break MI resistance and why is VW5 much less match on vegetation that don’t comprise the MI gene. With the assistance of additional an infection assays and genomic information relating to gene presence and transcription evaluation we hope to make clear this course of, determine candidate genes in motion, and total determine how the mechanism of the MI gene works.”

Coomer, a doctoral scholar in plant pathology with an emphasis on nematology and suggested by Siddique, is working on her dissertation, “Plant Parasitic Nematode Effectors and Their Position within the Plant Protection Immune System.”

Coomer, initially from the St. Louis, Mo., space, acquired two bachelor degrees–one in biology and the opposite in chemistry–in Might 2020 from Concordia College, Seward, Neb., the place she gained the Excellent Graduate Scholar in Biology Award. She served as a biology lab assistant and taught programs normally biology and microbiology. 

As a organic science aide/intern, Coomer did undergraduate analysis within the Sorghum Unit of USDA’s Agricultural Analysis Service. Lincoln, Neb.  Her work included amassing, prepping and analyzing DNA, RNA and proteins to determine genes that contribute to an under- and over-expression of lignin in sorghum vegetation.