Cultural methods essentially provide qualitative data even though quantitative information can also be obtained, for example the number of colonies in relation to a certain quantity of samples. One rather obvious advantage of culturing methods is that successful isolation yields objective proof of the presence of the pathogen and a culture that is available for further characterization. Another quite common technique for the isolation Trichostatin A order of some soil- and waterborne pathogens is their baiting with selective hosts. This method can also provide generic information on the quantity of the pathogen

and is effective for the detection of oomycetes such as Pythium and Phytophthora species, because their zoospores can move in a liquid media and easily reach baiting tissues (Erwin and Ribeiro 1996). Baiting has also been proposed as a useful method to detect some true fungi, but it may be not sensitive enough to detect the pathogen in naturally infested soils (Ruano-Rosa et al. 2007). However, most of the above-mentioned methods are time-consuming, and results are not always conclusive, for instance when closely related organisms need to be discriminated. Moreover, traditional http://www.selleckchem.com/products/rxdx-106-cep-40783.html methods may not be sensitive enough to detect the pathogen in presymptomatic infections, and they could not detect several soilborne seasonally active pathogens (Cooke

et al. 2007). The invention of PCR in 1984 by Kary Mullis has revolutionized basic and applied studies in all biological fields, including plant pathology. In particular, the potential of conventional PCR (cPCR) was greatly increased in the early 1990s with the development of real-time quantitative amplification technologies (qPCR). This technique is now widely utilized for a number of different applications, and several

reviews have been published on its use in plant pathology (Schena et al. 2004; Okubara et al. 2005; Mumford et al. 2006; Cooke et al. 2007; Vincelli and Tisserat 2008; O’Brien et al. 2009; Bilodeau 2011). Furthermore, a comprehensive review focusing on critical steps and practical difficulties that can be encountered developing a qPCR is available Fludarabine cell line (Schena et al. 2013). The present review focuses on qPCR as an automated routine technical support in plant pathology by providing an updated report on its most important applications for the detection and quantification of filamentous fungi and oomycetes (Fig. 1; Table S1). Indeed, they include the most important plant pathogens, whose extreme similarity in both appearance and lifestyle has been related to the multiple horizontal gene transfers that have occurred from filamentous ascomycete fungi to the distantly related oomycetes (Richards et al. 2006). Thus, they also share several common aspects related to their detection and quantification within host tissues and in soil, air and water.