How has biotechnology been useful in controlling nematode infection in plants ? Explain the technique involved in this process.

Explanation

A nematode Meloidogyne incognita infects the roots of tobacco plants and causes a great reduction in yield.
RNA interference (RNA) strategy is used to prevent this infestation.
RNA is a method of cellular defense in all eukaryotic organism.
It prevents translation of a specific mRNA (silencing) due to a complementary dsRNA molecule. The source of this complementary RNA is from an infection by RNA viruses or mobile genetic elements (transposons) that replicate via an RNA intermediate. Using Agrobacterium vectors, nematode-specific genes (DNA) were introduced into the host plant.
It produced both sense & anti-sense RNA in host cells. These two RNA.s being complementary to each other formed a double stranded (dsRNA) that initiated RNAi and thus, silenced the specific mRNA of nematode. Thus, the parasite cannot survive in a transgenic host expressing specific interfering RNA.