Real-time PCR quantification of latent infection of wheat powdery mildew in the field

Wheat powdery mildew, caused by the fungal pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), is a destructive wheat disease worldwide. The key issue for the disease forecast is to timely and accurately estimate and quantify the latent infection levels in volunteer seedlings where the pathogen over-wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of plant pathology 2013-07, Vol.136 (3), p.565-575
Main Authors: Zheng, Yaming, Luo, Yong, Zhou, Yilin, Zeng, Xiaowei, Duan, Xiayu, Cao, Xueren, Song, Yuli, Wang, Baotong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agriculture
Airborne microorganisms
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Blumeria graminis
Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici
Crop diseases
disease outbreaks
Distribution patterns
Ecology
Epidemics
field experimentation
Field tests
fungi
inoculum
leaves
Life Sciences
Pathogens
Plant Pathology
Plant Sciences
Polymerase chain reaction
powdery mildew
quantitative polymerase chain reaction
Seedlings
Spatial distribution
Triticum aestivum
volunteers
Wheat
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Summary:Wheat powdery mildew, caused by the fungal pathogen Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), is a destructive wheat disease worldwide. The key issue for the disease forecast is to timely and accurately estimate and quantify the latent infection levels in volunteer seedlings where the pathogen over-winters or over-summers to serve as sources of initial inoculum of epidemics. To improve the conventional method, a real-time PCR assay had been established in this study to quantify latent infection level of wheat leaves. Artificially and naturally infected leaves in wheat fields at different geographical locations in China were collected and processed to determine the latent infection levels. Linear relationships between the molecular disease index (MDX) and the observed disease index (DX) were obtained from artificial inoculation experiments. Field experiments showed that the spatial distribution patterns of MDX matched well with those of DX in the most cases. This study demonstrated that the real-time PCR assay was a useful tool to rapidly and accurately quantify the latent infection levels of wheat powdery mildew and to efficiently estimate the initial inoculum potentials of epidemics in the fields.
ISSN:0929-1873
1573-8469
DOI:10.1007/s10658-013-0188-5