Methods of increasing the resistance of plants, in particular soybeans, to nematodes, in particular soybean cyst nematodes, are provided herein. The methods include increasing the expression of Glyma18g02580, Glyma18g02590 and/or Glyma18g2610 in cells of a plant and in particular in root cells of a plant to increase the resistance of the plant and plant cells to nematodes. The methods include increasing the expression using constitutive promoters or by increasing the copy number of the polynucleotides. Constructs for expressing these polypeptides, transgenic cells, transgenic plants and methods of generating the same are also provided. Methods of screening plant cells for resistance or susceptibility to nematodes are also provided.