First Report of the Barley Root-Knot Nematode, Meloidogyne naasi, from Pennsylvania, with New Host Report

Abstract

Meloidogyne naasi Franklin, 1965, the barley root-knot nematode, was originally found in field crops such as cereals, grasses, and sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) in England and Wales, (Franklin,1965). This nematode is one of the most significant root-knot nematodes impacting grains in European countries (Santos et al. 2020). Among root-knot nematode species, M. naasi, exhibits a distinct preference for grasses, with documented impacts on turfgrasses leading to reduced growth and vigor (Skantar et al., 2023; Cook and Yeates, 1993). In September 2022, root-knot nematode females and second-stage juveniles (J2) were recovered from roots of fowl manna grass, Glyceria striata (Lam.) Hitchc., during a nematode survey on natural vegetation at the Allegheny National Forest (41°30'13.8"N 79°09'46.2"W). Second-stage juvenile specimens were recovered from soil using sugar centrifugal flotation (Jenkins, 1964). Small galls with egg masses were dissected from fowl manna grass roots originally collected from the surveyed areas. In parallel, five plants of non-infected fowl manna grass were placed in a pot in the greenhouse using naturally nematode-infested soil collected from the same forested area. Small galls and female specimens recovered from these plants were dissected and processed for further analyses. Female and J2 were fixed in 3% formaldehyde solution and processed to glycerin (Golden, 1990; Hooper, 1970). The specimens were examined by light microscopy, morphometric measurements, and molecular markers, which included the D2-D3 region of the large ribosomal subunit 28S, and the rDNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS). The perennial pattern of five females analyzed morphologically were consistent to the patterns observed for M. naasi. The perennial patterns had coarse ridges on the cuticle in dorsal region forming broken irregular lines around anal and phasmid area. We also noted a prominent fold that covered some of the anus and showed a curved line between vulval slit and phasmids, typical of M. naasi. The area around the vulval area had a few or no striae except for a few lines radiating from the vulval slit as in the original description. Measurements of ten J2 had a body length ranged between 380 and 410 µm, stylet 11-13 µm, tail 50-70 µm long with a hyaline tail terminus between 12-22 µm in length, 4 lines in the lateral field, a and c ratio between 29.23-35.91 and 5.79-7.9 fitting the original description by Franklin, 1965 and others populations found in the USA (Skantar et al., 2023). The matrix codes for the female specimes are A32, B324, C3, D3 and for J2’s A2, B21, C123, D1, E3, F12 (Subbotin et al., 2021). The amplified DNA fragments were sequenced, resulting in an 726 bp fragment flanked by the D2-D3 primers (PP097762), while for the ITS primers an 634 bp fragment was obtained (PP092043). Both generated sequences for the specimens collected in Pennsylvania revealed >99% similarity to M. naasi sequences deposited at GenBank, and therefore, validating the morphological analyses. Based on both morphological and molecular analyses the specimens collected in the state of Pennsylvania were identified as M.naasi. To our knowledge, this is the first report of this species from this state and being associated with naturally infected fowl manna grass.