The Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) profile of Phytophthora agathidicida and its potential use as diagnostic tool
September 2021
Publication: FEMS Microbiology Letters
Author(s): Lacey, Randy F., Sullivan-Hill, Blake A., Deslippe, Julie R., Keyzers, Robert A. & Gerth, Monica L.
Phytophthora diseases cause devastation to crops and native ecosystems worldwide. In New Zealand, Phytophthora agathidicida is threatening the survival of kauri, an endemic, culturally and ecologically important tree species. The current method for detecting P. agathidicida is a soil bating assay that is time-consuming and requires high levels of expertise to assess, thus limiting the analytical sample throughput. Here, we characterized the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) profile of P. agathidicida. We also compared it with the FAME profile of P. cinnamomi and assessed the efficacy of FAME analysis as a diagnostic tool for detecting the pathogen in soil samples.