Poster: Diseases of Plants: Disease Detection & Diagnosis
517-P
Development of species-specific qPCR tests for detection and quantification of Meloidogyne hapla
A. GORNY (1), X. Wang (2), S. Pethybridge (1) (1) Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology Section, U.S.A.; (2) USDA-ARS, Plant Protection Research Unit, Cornell University, U.S.A.
The Northern root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne hapla, is an important soilborne pathogen of potatoes and other vegetables grown in the United States and is common within New York State. Effective management of M. hapla and other plant-parasitic nematodes relies on the accurate identification and timely quantification of pathogen populations prior to planting. Identification and quantification may be substantially improved by pre-plant soil tests which utilize quantitative PCR (qPCR) techniques to target DNA sequences specific to the pathogen of interest. Here, qPCR primers were designed to target unique regions of an effector gene 16D10 in M. hapla and assayed for specificity against plant-parasitic nematodes using qualitative PCR. The primers developed in this study were shown to be specific to M. hapla. A qPCR tests was developed and the sensitivity of the primers determined.