Diagnostic of plant virus diseases

The dissemination of plant virus diseases either by their natural vectors or through the propagation of infected material causes every year major economic losses throughout the world. Detection methods of high sensitivity and specificity, and susceptible to be used in large -scale routine testing, need to be developed.
The existing methods for the detection of the pathogens are oftently either not sensitive enough (immunological tests ELISA type), two slow (biological tests, for example, on indicator plants), or difficult to standartize (Immunofluorescence).
PCR-derived methods for the detection of pathogens show a high sensitivity and specificity. We develop, in collaboration with industrial partners, techniques which allow the extraction of total RNAs/DNAs from plants followed by a PCR or RT/PCR test, in a format which is susceptible to be implemented in routine testings.
We also currently investigate with industrial partners the potential of field quick strip tests (pregnancy-type tests) for the detection of viral pathogens, with a sensitivity equivalent to a PCR test.

RNA/DNA extraction apparatus (Omniprep, Ivagen)

strip tests for virus detection (blue = virus infected, white = healthy)

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