ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the techniques used for studies of nematode systematics and identification: collection, fixation, mounting, and related studies. Staining can help by selectively coloring the nematodes within the roots. Nematode suspension contaminated by debris that hinders observation can be cleaned by active migration through a filter, generally a tissue paper filter. An alternative to maintaining a large collection at a single location would be a network of universities and research centers maintaining local collections of nematodes species. Nematodes are often mounted on Cobb's slides that allow observations at high magnifications from either side of the specimens. Separation of soluble proteins in whole nematode extracts by acrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by staining the separated proteins yields species-specific patterns. A major advantage of isozyme staining is that it is generally much more sensitive than total protein staining and one can examine single individuals in groups such as cyst or root-knot nematodes that have large females.
