By introducing coffee in Latin America, this was exposed to a range of root-knot nematodes (RKNs) with some of them proved to be highly pathogens such as the three main species for this crop: Meloidogyne paranaensis, M. incognita and M. exigua. Genetic control, using resistant cultivars, is the mainstay of a low cost integrated RKNs management aiming avoidance of highly-toxic nematicides. The main Coffea arabica cultivars traditionally cultivated are highly susceptible to RKNs. Sources of resistance to RKNs were prospected in wild accessions of C. arabica and C. canephora. Resistance to M. paranaensis, M. incognita and M. exigua and even to some other minor species like M. arabicida has been identified in C. canephora germplasm. In the case of wild C. arabica accessions, resistance to M. paranaensis, M. arabicida and M. incognita have been found. On the other hand, none resistance to M. exigua has been found in this species. Resistance phenotypes on coffee have been partially characterized for M. exigua and M. incognita infestations. However more detailed cellular and molecular characterization of resistance mechanisms to RKNs in coffee roots must be carried out in order to indentify the timing and pathways of the plant responses. Depending on the RKN species and coffee genotypes, different resistance traits have been observed at different infestation steps from penetration restraint to hypersensitive like reactions. These cell death processes were observed during migration of infective J2 in the roots toward the plant vascular system and also in and/or close to giant-cell-formed feeding sites leading to none or weak reproduction of the nematode. Knowledge on inheritance of resistances to RKNs is essential for breeding programs. Among known resistance to RKNs in coffee, only genetic determinism of the resistance to M. exigua has been described with the identification of one dominant gene: Mex-1 whose mapping is in progress looking for nearby markers among a large F2