Genetic approaches to sustainable pest management in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)

Abstract

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) is an important arable crop, traditionally used for sugar extraction, but more recently, for biofuel production. A wide range of pests, including beet cyst nematode (Heterodera schachtii), root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.), green peach aphids (Myzus persicae) and beet root maggot (Tetanops myopaeformis), infest the roots or leaves of sugar beet, which leads to yield loss directly or through transmission of beet pathogens such as viruses. Conventional pest control approaches based on chemical application have led to high economic costs. Development of pest-resistant sugar beet varieties could play an important role towards sustainable crop production while minimising environmental impact. Intensive Beta germplasm screening has been fruitful, and genetic lines resistant to nematodes, aphids and root maggot have been identified and integrated into sugar beet breeding programmes. A small number of genes responding to pest attack have been cloned from sugar beet and wild Beta species. This trend will continue towards a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanism of insect-host plant interactions and host resistance. Molecular biotechnological techniques have shown promise in developing transgenic pest resistance varieties at an accelerated speed with high accuracy. The use of transgenic technology is discussed with regard to biodiversity and food safety.

Germin and Germin-like Proteins: Evolution, Structure, and Function

“…These observations suggest that gene expression is different in syncytial cells as compared to whole roots infected with nematodes. Very similar results with this system have been reported by Ithal et al (2007aIthal et al ( , 2007b and it is also reported in Zhang et al (2008) that germin is involved in the response to nematodes in sugar beet.…”

Temporal sampling helps unravel the genetic structure of naturally occurring populations of a phytoparasitic nematode. 1. Insights from the estimation of effective population sizes

“…However, the development of resistance‐breaking strains of this nematode is a main concern (Zhang et al. ; Thurau et al. ).…”

“…This cyst nematode infects the roots of the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris spp. vulgaris) and is one of the most damaging pathogens of sugar beet crops (Zhang et al 2008). Crop rotation and intercropping decrease nematode populations, but they are not compatible with intensive agricultural practices (Van der Putten et al 2006;Curto 2008).…”

Plant Nematode Control

“…Also, an extended version of the Hs1 pro-1 (DQ148271) protein which includes an additional 176 amino acid N-terminal extension has been reported by McLean et al 2007, which confers resistance to H. glycines the soybean cyst nematode. In Arabidopsis, which is also a host for H. schachtii, a series of sequence homologues of Hs1 pro-1 have been detected, but none of these confers resistance and only the wild beet Hs1 pro-1 variant was able to efficiently protect Arabidopsis upon transformation (Zhang et al 2008;Cai et al 2005). However, as no complete resistance could be observed by transgenic sugar beet plants so far (Cai, unpublished data), it is proposed that a second gene may be involved in the resistance expression (Schulte et al 2006).…”