Plant Disease (2021) 105 (9 - 2439)

Harleen Kaur, Raghuwinder Singh, Vinson Doyle and Rodrigo Valverde (2021)
A diagnostic TaqMan real-time PCR assay for in planta detection and quantification of Colletotrichum theobromicola, causal agent of boxwood dieback
Plant Disease 105 (9 - 2439)
Abstract: Boxwood dieback, caused by Colletotrichum theobromicola, is spreading at an alarming rate in the boxwood industry in the United States. Although C. theobromicola has been accepted as a distinct species within the C. gloeosporioides species complex, it is difficult to distinguish it from other closely related species based on morphology. Moreover, molecular identification of C. theobromicola requires amplification and sequencing of multiple loci, which can be expensive and time consuming. Therefore, a diagnostic TaqMan real-time PCR assay was developed for early and accurate detection and quantification of C. theobromicola in boxwood. The study involved the design of species-specific primers and a TaqMan probe to differentiate C. theobromicola from other closely related Colletotrichum species. The primers and probe discriminate between C. theobromicola and other species in the C. gloeosporioides species complex and can detect C. theobromicola at very low concentrations, illustrating the high specificity and sensitivity of the assay. This TaqMan real-time PCR assay accurately and rapidly distinguishes boxwood dieback from other diseases with similar symptomatology, including Macrophoma blight, Phytophthora root rot, and Volutella blight, as well as some disorders produced by abiotic agents.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Rodrigo A. Valverde

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
surveys/sampling/distribution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Colletotrichum theobromicola	Buxus (crop)