Iowa State University (ISU) has just been awarded a $900,000 grant to investigate the process by which soybean cyst nematodes (SCN) infect soybeans.
SCN causes an estimated $700 million in annual losses to the U.S. soybean industry and often is called the most serious disease problem in soybean production.
The research will take the approach of unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying SCN parasitism and then interfere with these mechanisms, says Thomas Baum, plant pathologist at ISU.
USDA's National Research Initiative grant is for three years.