Meloidogyne incognita

Meloidogyne incognita
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Nematoda
Class: Secernentea
Order: Tylenchida
Family: Heteroderidae
Genus: Meloidogyne
Species:
M. incognita
Binomial name
Meloidogyne incognita
(Kofoid & White, 1919)

Meloidogyne incognita (root-knot nematode, RKN), also known as the southern root-nematode or cotton root-knot nematode is a plant-parasitic roundworm in the family Heteroderidae. This nematode is one of the four most common species worldwide and has numerous hosts. It typically incites large, usually irregular galls on roots as a result of parasitism.

M. incognita can move along shallower temperature gradients (0.001 °C/cm) than any other known organism,[1] an example of thermotaxis. The response is complicated and thought to allow the nematodes to move toward an appropriate level in soil,[2] while they search for chemical cues that can guide them to specific roots.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ Pline, Diez, and Dusenbery, J. Nematology, 20:605-608 (1988). Extremely sensitive thermotaxis of the nematode Meloidogyne incognita.
  2. ^ Dusenbery, D.B. Biological Cybernetics, 60:431-437 (1989). A simple animal can use a complex stimulus pattern to find a location.
  3. ^ Pline and Dusenbery. 1987. Responses of the plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita to carbon dioxide determined by video camera-computer tracking. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 13 : 873-888.
  4. ^ Dusenbery. 1987. The theoretical range over which bacteria and nematodes locate plant roots using carbon dioxide. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 13 : 1617-1624.
  5. ^ Diez and Dusenbery. 1989. Repellent of root-knot nematodes from the exudate of host roots. Journal of Chemical Ecology. 15:2445-2455.