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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Urbana, Illinois » Soybean/maize Germplasm, Pathology, and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #306802

Title: Molecular methods for pathogen detection and quantification

Author
item Haudenshield, James
item Hartman, Glen

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2015
Publication Date: 12/15/2015
Citation: Haudenshield, J.S., Hartman, G.L. 2015. In: Hartman, G.L., Rupe, J.C., Sikora, E.F., Domier, L.L., Davis, J.A., Steffey, K.L., editors. Compendium of Soybean Diseases and Pests. Molecular methods for pathogen detection and quantification. St. Paul, MN: American Phytopathological Society. p. 131-135.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Ongoing interest in convenient, inexpensive, fast, sensitive and accurate techniques for detecting and/or quantifying the presence of soybean pathogens has resulted in increased usage of molecular tools. The method of extracting a molecular target (usually DNA or RNA) for detection depends wholly upon the nature of the sample, as pathogens may be present in foliar, woody, root, or reproductive tissue, in soil or irrigation water, in arthropod vectors, on mechanical equipment, as airborne propagules, or even associated with people. Consequently, differing interfering agents may be present, acting to inhibit or obscure detection. Automated DNA extraction is possible in some cases, but throughput may be limited by the investigator's ability to prepare the input samples. Thus, an assay used successfully to quantify a soybean pathogen in foliar punches may require modification when employed to detect the same pathogen in roots or soil, for example, where washing or sieving, drying, milling, and subsampling may be necessary. Some methods developed for pathogens on different hosts may be adapted for use in the context of soybean with little or no modification where isolates are not delimited by host-range.