DNA probes for the detection of plant pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

During the last few years there has been an increasing interest in exploiting the potential of DNA probes for identification and detection of phytopathogenic bacteria and there are now sufficient reports using representatives of the main relevant genera to show that DNA probes are of unequivocal value in identification. Detection of phytopathogenic bacteria is required under two main sets of circumstances: for diagnosis of diseased plant material and for plant hygiene purposes. The major difference is the demand for sensitivity and thus different DNA probe assays are relevance for the two conditions. Dot-blot assays are simple but not very sensitive. On the other hand, assays based on the polymerase chain reaction can be extremely sensitive. A common problem for many applications appears to be a negative influence on the assays from plant debris and/or background microflora. There are, however, several possibilities to counteract these effects. In this review, we discuss the recent progress made in this field.