Dr. Zhang’s lab is interested in studying plant-nematode interactions with the aim of developing new tools for nematode management in agriculture.

Plant-parasitic nematodes are microscopic soil-borne roundworms, they infect and damage plant roots causing annual crop losses valued at $80-$118 billion worldwide. With most of front-line nematicides being banned due to their extreme toxicity, it is urgent to develop new methods for nematode control. We focus on two groups of plant-parasitic nematodes: 1) Soybean cyst nematode (SCN), the most damaging pathogen of soybean in the US. We study distributions and virulence types of SCN populations on soybean fields in Indiana to provide information to growers for effective SCN management. We are also interested in developing new bio-control agents for SCN management. 2) Root-knot nematodes (RKN) cause serious problems in tomato and melon production in Indiana. We focus on studying RKN-secreted effector proteins. These effectors are secreted by nematodes to plant root cells. Our lab is interested in studying how nematode effectors manipulate plant processes during parasitism. We aim to develop crop resistance against RKNs by disrupting the molecular plant-nematode interactions using technologies such as gene editing and host-delivered RNAi.

### There are open positions of a postdoctoral researcher and graduate students in Dr. Zhang’s lab. If you are interested, please contact Dr. Zhang for more information.

Selected Publications

Zhang, L. and Gleason, C.A. (2020) Enhancing potato resistance against root-knot nematodes using a plant elicitor peptide delivered by bacteria. Nature Plants 6, 625-629.

Zhang, L. and Gleason, C.A. (2019) Loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the diagnostic detection of Meloidogyne chitwoodi and M. fallax. Plant Disease 103:1, 12-18.

Leelarasamee, N., Zhang, L. and Gleason, C.A. (2018) The root-knot nematode effector MiPFN3 disrupts plant actin filaments and promotes parasitism. PLOS Pathogens 14(3): e1006947.

Gleason, C.A., Polzin, F., Habash, S.S., Zhang, L., Utermark, J., Grundler, F.M. and Elashry, A. (2017) Identification of two Meloidogyne hapla genes and an investigation of their roles in the plant-nematode interaction. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 30: 101-122.

Zhang, L., Davies, L.J. and Elling, A.A. (2015) A Meloidogyne incognita effector is imported into the nucleus and exhibits transcriptional activation activity in planta. Molecular Plant Pathology 16: 48-60.

Davies, L.J., Zhang, L. and Elling, A.A. (2015) The Arabidopsis thaliana papain-like cysteine protease RD21 interacts with a root-knot nematode effector protein. Nematology 17: 655-666.