Biological control of nematodes

Biological control of nematodes: from soil suppression & the search for a silver bullet to synthetic biology by Keith G Davies.
Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, AL10 9AB, UK. E-mail: [email protected]

This presentation is based on a talk given at the European Society of Nematology at Braga, Portugal in 2016. Nematode suppressive soils are a well-documented phenomenon and a whole host of microbes have been implicated. Commercial agrochemical companies are looking for a single silver bullet that will replace nematicides; these must be environmentally benign and also compatible with other crop protection methods. To date there are no successful biological control agents that can routinely replace nematicides for use as a silver bullet in the field situation. However, molecular biology has revolutionized our understanding of host-parasite interactions from nematode trapping fungi to bacterial wart disease. Craig Venter has an academic interest in minimal genomes and is pushing the idea of synthetic biology. Platforms by which bacteria can be engineered are now available and novel biological functions can be added to both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. It is now theoretically possible through synthetic biology and genome editing to produce designer biological control agents through cherry picking the desired biological functions we need and combining them in a single bacterium.