Whole-cell bacterial biosensor for volatile detection from Pectobacterium-infected potatoes enables early identification of potato tuber soft rot disease.

Half of the harvested food is lost due to rots caused by microorganisms. Plants emit various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into their surrounding environment, and the VOC profiles of healthy crops are altered upon infection. In this study, a whole-cell bacterial biosensor was used for the early identification of potato tuber soft rot disease caused by the pectinolytic bacteria Pectobacterium in potato tubers.

Monitoring of infection volatile markers using CMOS-based luminescent bioreporters.

Over the past two decades, whole-cell biosensors (WCBs) have been widely used in the environmental field, with only few applications proposed for use in agricultural. This study describes the development and optimization of a WCB for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that is produced specifically by infected potato tubers. First, the effect of calcium-alginate matrix formation (beads vs.

Differentiation of Pectobacterium and Dickeya spp. phytopathogens using infrared spectroscopy and machine learning analysis.

Pectobacterium and Dickeya spp. are soft rot Pectobacteriaceae that cause aggressive diseases on agricultural crops leading to substantial economic losses. The accurate, rapid and low-cost detection of these pathogenic bacteria are very important for controlling their spread, reducing the consequent financial loss and for producing uninfected potato seed tubers for future generations.

Using Deep Learning for Image-Based Potato Tuber Disease Detection.

Many plant diseases have distinct visual symptoms, which can be used to identify and classify them correctly. This article presents a potato disease classification algorithm that leverages these distinct appearances and advances in computer vision made possible by deep learning. The algorithm uses a deep convolutional neural network, training it to classify the tubers into five classes: namely, four disease classes and a healthy potato class.

The role of onion-associated fungi in bulb mite infestation and damage to onion seedlings.

In Israel Rhizoglyphus robini is considered to be a pest in its own right, even though the mite is usually found in association with fungal pathogens. Plant protection recommendations are therefore to treat germinating onions seedlings, clearly a crucial phase in crop production, when mites are discovered. The aim of this study was to determine the role of fungi in bulb mite infestation and damage to germinating onion seedlings.

Dickeya solani sp. nov., a pectinolytic plant-pathogenic bacterium isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosum).

Pectinolytic bacteria have been recently isolated from diseased potato plants exhibiting blackleg and slow wilt symptoms found in a number of European countries and Israel. These Gram-reaction-negative, motile, rods were identified as belonging to the genus Dickeya, previously the Pectobacterium chrysanthemi complex (Erwinia chrysanthemi), on the basis of production of a PCR product with the pelADE primers, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, fatty acid methyl esterase analysis, the production of phosphatases and the ability to produce indole and acids from α-methylglucoside. Differential physiological assays used previously to differentiate between strains of E.

Identification of fungal phytopathogens using Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection spectroscopy and advanced statistical methods.

The early diagnosis of phytopathogens is of a great importance; it could save large economical losses due to crops damaged by fungal diseases, and prevent unnecessary soil fumigation or the use of fungicides and bactericides and thus prevent considerable environmental pollution. In this study, 18 isolates of three different fungi genera were investigated; six isolates of Colletotrichum coccodes, six isolates of Verticillium dahliae and six isolates of Fusarium oxysporum. Our main goal was to differentiate these fungi samples on the level of isolates, based on their infrared absorption spectra obtained using the Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR) sampling technique.