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Development of a Polyclonal Antibody-Based Serodiagnostic Assay for the Detection of Xanthomonas campestris pv. pelargonii in Geranium Plants. M. J. Anderson, Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University and OARDC, Columbus, OH 43210; S. T. Nameth, Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University and OARDC, Columbus, OH 43210. Phytopathology 80:357-360. Accepted for publication 25 September 1989. Copyright 1990 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-80-357.

Polyclonal antisera were produced by immunizing New Zealand white rabbits with a phosphate-buffered saline suspension of Xanthomonas campestris pv. pelargonii. Antisera then were used to develop an immunogold silver stain dot-immunobinding assay for the detection of this pathogen in geranium plants. Immunoglobulins also were purified and used to develop a direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). This assay was used to determine the presence of X. c. pelargonii in symptomatic and asymptomatic plants. Relationships among strains of X. c. pelargonii, various pathovars of X. campestris, unrelated bacteria, and fungal pathogens of geranium were examined by direct ELISA. High reactivity was observed for X. c. pelargonii, but five of seven other tested pathovars also gave moderate reactions. Movement of X. c. pelargonii in root inoculated geranium cuttings also was examined.