In CTAHR’s Department of Plant and Environmental Protection Sciences, (Landon) Wong was awarded the Helen Jones Farrar ARCS award in Tropical Plant Pathology and the Dr. Jacqueline Maly ARCS Scholar of the Year award for his research on the taxonomy of coffee root-knot nematodes. This tiny, destructive pest is devastating coffee production across Hawaiʻi Island, Central and South America.
Wong’s project clarified the true identity of the Kona coffee root-knot nematode (tiny pest) (Meloidogyne konaensis) by incorporating genetic, physical and protein-based testing. Wong’s work determined Meloidogyne konaensis is widely distributed across the coffee-growing regions of Central and South America.
“Traditional diagnostic procedures could take over two months,” Wong said. “This research has facilitated a faster identification method to protect local coffee growers from this pest and allow regulators to accurately screen and identify the nematode pest at ports of entry and in field samples in under a day using a simple genetic test.”
He also discovered a new species of root-knot nematode in Brazil, Meloidogyne pseudokonaensis, named for its similarity and previously mistaken identity as Meloidogyne konaensis.
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