A METHOD FOR OBTAINING PLANTS WITH REDUCED SUSCEPTIBILITY TO PLANT-PARASITIC NEMATODES

PCT No. PCT/EP92/02559 Sec. 371 Date May 19, 1994 Sec. 102(e) Date May 19, 1994 PCT Filed Nov. 2, 1992 PCT Pub. No. WO93/10251 PCT Pub. Date May 27, 1993A method for obtaining plants with reduced susceptibility to invasion by a plant parasitic nematode, and plants having reduced susceptibility to invasion by a plant parasitic nematode obtained, for example, with such method. The method includes the following steps: (a) transforming cells of a plant or progeny of the plant with a coding sequence A and a coding sequence B, the coding sequences A and B being selected such that transformed cells expressing the coding sequences A and B display a normal phenotype and such that a nematode feeding structure comprising a cell expressing the coding sequence A but not expressing the coding sequence B has a reduced ability to support development of the plant parasitic nematode as compared with a nematode feeding structure wherein coding sequence A is not expressed, the coding sequence A being under the control of a promoter A that drives expression of the coding sequence A preferentially in the cell of the nematode feeding structure, the coding sequence B being under the control of a promoter B that drives expression of the coding sequence B in transformed cells wherein coding sequence A is expressed but not in the cell of the nematode feeding structure; (b) generating plants from the transformed cells of step (a); and (c) screening the generated plants for a transformed plant which has a reduced susceptibility to the plant parasitic nematode and which displays the normal phenotype.