Effectiveness of conventional PCR technique to detect Septoria tritici in wheat seeds

V. F. CONSOLO, C.M. ALBANI, C. M. BERÓN. G.L. SALERNO & C. A. CORDO

AUSTRALASIAN PLANT PATHOLOGY

CSIRO PUBLISHING

Año: 2008

0815-3191

A PCR assay was developed for detection of wheat seed naturally contaminated with S. tritici. S. tritici specific primers were derived from strict alignment of ITS and α-tubulin sequences of the pathogen, and other fungi genetically related present in the wheat microambient. Specificity of four sets of synthesized oligonucleotide pairs (A, B, C and D) were tested using isolates from S. tritici, from other selected fungi and from wheat seeds. A single DNA fragment was amplified from S. tritici isolates with all primer pairs whereas no product was generated from other DNA sources. S. tritici was also detected in wheat seedlots collected from plants with variable pycnidial coverage on the upper two leaves. PCR detection of as little as 0.5 pg of S. tritici genomic DNA was possible.This is the first report on the detection of S. tritici DNA in naturally infested wheat seeds. This PCR based assay is simple, rapid, specific, sensitive and suitable for routine detection of the wheat pathogen in infested wheat seeds.