Phylogenetic position of Meloidogyne javanica associated with tomato, based on ITS rDNA partial sequences Limpopo Province, South Africa

The decline in the yield of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is largely attributed to the prevalence of nematodes belonging to the Meloidogyne species, commonly known as root-knot nematodes. The Meloidogyne species of nematodes are regarded as the most significant contributing factor to the reduction in tomato yield. Therefore, the present investigation was conducted in 2023 at the University of Limpopo to reveal that Meloidogyne javanica (Treub) Chitwood was the identified cause of the nematode. The ITS rDNA was sequenced and amplified from female nematodes, following which the blast result showed that the South African population exhibited a high similarity (99% identity) to those populations studied in the United States (AF387094 and U96305) and China (AY438555). A comparison to the USA population (AF387094), revealed four nucleotide differences. Utilizing the maximum likelihood method for phylogenetic analysis, it was demonstrated that our population and the other populations of M. javanica form a robust clade (91% bootstrap values).