| Popis: |
Effective control of bacterial pathogens (Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. sepedonicus, Pseudomonas solanacearum and Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica) of potato depends greatly on the specific, sensitive and accurate detection of the pathogen in infected tubers. Infected tubers are a major source of initial inoculum in the growing season, and therefore detection of low levels of bacterium in the seed plays a key role in disease control and eradication. Traditional diagnostic methods involves the use of bioassays, serological methods and culturing of the bacterium but these methods are often time consuming and cross-reacting saprophytic bacteria may cause problems. We have used PCR as an additional tool in the routine detection of potato ring rot pathogen. Generally PCR test have revealed the same positive and negative test results but in a few cases where cross-reacting problems prevented reliable immunofluorescence detection, PCR test gave a clear negative results. Our experiences suggest that when PCR test is carefully performed, it is a reliable test method for practical diagnosis of difficult samples. New developments of using more convenient test formats, such as immunocapture-PCR, will lead to the development of ELISA-like PCR for bacterial detection in potato. |
