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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » Natural Products Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #226714
Title: Development of a Miniaturized 24-well Strawberry Leaf Disk Bioassay for Evaluating Natural Fungicides

Author
item WANG, XIAONING - CHINA AGRICULTURAL UNIV.
item Wedge, David
item Tabanca, Nurhayat
item Johnson, Robert
item CUTLER, STEPHEN - UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
item PACE, PATRICK - UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
item Smith, Barbara
item ZHOU, LIGANA - CHINA AGRICULTURAL UNIV.

Submitted to: Natural Product Communications
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/24/2008
Publication Date: 5/7/2008
Citation: Wang, X., Wedge, D.E., Tabanca, N., Johnson, R.D., Cutler, S.J., Pace, P., Smith, B.J., Zhou, L. 2008. Development of a Miniaturized 24-well Strawberry Leaf Disk Bioassay for Evaluating Natural Fungicides. Natural Product Communications. 3(7):1079-1084.

Interpretive Summary: Discovery and evaluation of natural product fungicides is largely dependent upon the availability of miniaturized antifungal bioassays. The need for a novel miniaturized leaf disk bioassay that quickly detects disease response on a real leaf surface with small product quantities and few replications is of utmost importance to natural product fungicide discovery. This paper presents information about our progress in developing of a new miniaturized 24-well detached leaf bioassay and we discuss problems associated with evaluating natural product fungicides.

Technical Abstract: There is great incentive to discover biologically active natural products from higher plants that are more effective than synthetic agrochemicals and are environmentally safe. Research emphasis at the US Department of Agriculture has therefore been on the development of alternative approaches to utilizing natural plant products in pest management. Discovery and evaluation of natural product fungicides is largely dependent upon the availability of miniaturized antifungal bioassays. We report on the development of a miniaturized 24-well leaf disc assay for evaluating plant extracts and pure compounds. Compounds applied directly to the leaf surface can be evaluated in a dose-response for fungicidal activity and phytotoxicity. The assay is sensitive to microgram quantities, can determine chemical sensitivity between fungal isolates, and adaptable to complex mixtures, lipophilic extracts, and non-polar compounds. The use of digital imaging and analytical software provided quantitative data and the ability to fine tune the data analysis. Identification of new potential lead compounds can be repeated quickly and on-the-leaf-surface activity can be evaluated in high throughput formats and published in a reasonable time.