'Plant Breeding: Sustaining the Future' Abstracts of the XVIth EUCARPIA Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland, 10-14 September 2001 ANALYSIS OF GENE EXPRESSION IN POTATO ROOTS INFECTED WITH CYST NEMATODES USING SUPPRESSION SUBTRACTIVE HYBRIDISATION (SSH) AND cDNA-AFLP M.R. ARMSTRONG, V. C. BLOK, M.S. PHILLIPS Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, UK

Considerable variation in the timing and nature of the resistant response to plant parasitic nematodes has been observed.  The rapid hypersensitive response observed in incompatible interactions mediated by the Mi gene, fits in well with the apoptotic model proposed for hypersensitivity to a variety of fungal and bacterial pathogens.  The delayed necrotic response observed around the periphery of the feeding sites of cyst nematodes fits less well with this model.  Here we use SSH and cDNA-AFLP to compare plant and nematode gene expression in compatible and incompatible interactions between Globodera rostochiensis and potato with or without the H1 gene.  SSH analysis has resulted in the generation of cDNA libraries that contain a minimum of 50% nematode sequences, whereas cDNA-AFLP analysis identified mainly plant genes.