DEVELOPMENT OF DETECTION ASSAY FOR EARLY INFECTION OF LATE BLIGHT IN POTATO USING FLOW CYTOMETRY

Abstract

Late blight is the most devastating disease of potato caused by hemibiotrophic fungus Phytophthora infestans.
The disease has two distinct phases of its life cycle: an early asymptomatic biotrophic phase and a late necrotrophic phase.
An early biotrophic phase remains for about 72 hrs and is often difficult to detect. Here, we present the simple fluorescence
activated cell sorter (FACS) based method to detect the P. infestans population at an early stage (before necrotrophic phase)
of late blight infection using the same voltage gain settings which is generally used for DNA ploidy estimation of potato. An
early detection of P. infestans populations in leaf samples will allow the sufficient time for the curative measures.