Location: Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research
Title: Characterization and detection of grapevine fungal pathogens using Fatty Acid Methyl Ester analyses (FAME)Author
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Submitted to: International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 2/28/2019 Publication Date: 7/7/2019 Citation: Wallis, C.M. 2019. Characterization and detection of grapevine fungal pathogens using fatty acid Methyl Ester analyses (FAME). International Workshop on Grapevine Trunk Diseases. p. 43. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Grapevines can become infected by a variety trunk disease-causing fungi including those from genera such as Diplodia, Neofusicoccum, Lasiodiplodia, and others. These diverse pathogens can vary greatly in disease severity and symptom expression. Therefore, proper identification is necessary to determine the best management strategy. Although sequence-based genotyping can distinguish these fungal canker pathogens, there is a need for faster, cheaper ways to distinguish casual agents of trunk diseases. To address this, fingerprinting of fatty acids that comprise cell membranes of each pathogen was performed using gas chromatography on methyl esters (FAME). This was done to create profiles for over 20 different fungal species, with additional analyses that followed to verify accuracy of identification. With FAME, a total of 20 samples from culture can be analyzed in as little as two hours, and costs far lower than that of DNA-based techniques at less than 10 cents a sample. Ongoing work is examining ways to extract and analyze fungal FAMEs directly from plant tissues to avoid the need for culturing. FAME allows an alternative to DNA-based identification and could be employed in cases where nucleic acid degradation is a concern, or if an alternative methodology is required for regulatory actions. |
