Plant pathogens such as bacteria and viruses cause a significant economic loss to both producers and exporters, and thus the seed export industry are in dire need of rapid, low-cost, and high-throughput screening method to ensure disease-free seeds and plants.
Researchers developed an antibody array in a multiwell plate format to simultaneously detect four crucial plant pathogens, namely, a bacterial fruit blotch bacterium Acidovorax avenae subsp. citrulli (Aac), Chilli veinal mottle virus (ChiVMV, potyvirus),Watermelon silver mottle virus (WSMoV, tospovirus serogroup IV), and Melon yellow spot virus (MYSV, tospovirus). The antibody array in a multiwell plate format accurately detected plant pathogens in single and multiple detections, with the detection limits comparable to those of the conventional ELISA method. This newly developed method will help increase the screening capacity especially for seed and plant industries that requires large testing volumes for export and cultivation purposes. Not only can the antibody array in a plate format reduce the cost of testing, but also the nature of the 96-well plate will allow easy automatization of the assay for high-throughput screening.
This work is a collaborative effort of researchers from Agricultural Biotechnology Research Unit, BIOTEC and Queen’s University Belfast.
Ref: Charlermroj R.,Himananto O.,Seepiban C.,Kumpoosiri M.,Warin N.,Gajanandana O.,Elliott C. T.,Karoonuthaisiri N. Antibody array in a multiwell plate format for the sensitive and multiplexed detection of important plant pathogens. Analytical Chemistry. 86(14), 7049-56.