CHARACTERISATION OF AN ENDOSPORE POPULATION OF PASTEURIA THAT ADHERES TO THE PHYTONEMATODE HETERODERA SCHACHTII: Characterisation of an endospore of Pasteuria

Selected strains of Pasteuria species from the endospore forming Gram positive
bacteria group have the potential to be developed into phytonematode control agents. If Pasteuria is to be deployed successfully as a control agent, endospores of the bacterium have to initially adhere to the cuticle of the infective juvenile. Studies of the bacteria isolated from root-knot nematodes have suggested that collagen-like fibres on the endospore surface interact with a cuticle receptor on the second-stage juvenile through a host specific Velcro-like mechanism. However, very little is known regarding the nature of the biochemical nature of the mechanism in Pasteuria strains isolated from cyst nematodes. Here using several polyclonal antibodies raised to whole endospores and to synthetic collagen-like peptides we compare two Pasteuria populations. One a strain from root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne javanica) and another from cowpea cyst nematode (Heterodera cajani). Here we demonstrate that there is differential adhesion of endospores to the beet cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii and that the sugar moieties on the endospore surface may protect the collagen-like fibres on the endospore from proteolytic digestion and be involved in the endospore’s specificity.