ARS | Publication request: Identification of commonly encountered Pratylenchus in Oregon

Submitted to: Journal of Nematology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: April 30, 2011
Publication Date: September 1, 2011
Citation: Zasada, I.A., Peetz, A.B., Wade, N., Ingham, R.E. 2011. Identification of commonly encountered Pratylenchus in Oregon. Journal of Nematology. 43(3/4):297.

Technical Abstract: Pratylenchus species are commonly encountered in soil samples collected from a diversity of economically important crops in Oregon, including potato and small fruits. Proper identification is critical to the selection of an appropriate management strategy since, in many cases, populations are an assemblage of more than one Pratylenchus spp. that vary in pathogenicity. Identification of Pratylenchus species using differences in morphological characteristics can be time consuming because differences between species can be quite subtle. Furthermore, identification usually requires adult specimens, but often the populations recovered from soil are predominately juveniles. Therefore, the development of a reliable molecular technique to differentiate between the species commonly encountered in Oregon, P. penetrans, P. neglectus, P. thornei, and P. crenatus, would be highly desirable. To this end, a novel multiplex PCR method for the detection of these commonly encountered Pratylenchus spp., as well as P. vulnus which is less common, was developed. Previously published and newly developed species-specific primers were tested for functionality and specificity in single reactions prior to combining them in a multiplex PCR. A multiplex PCR assay was designed and optimized to differentiate between P. penetrans, P. neglectus, P. thornei, P. crenatus, and P. vulnus with PCR products of 65, 144, 288, 371, and 186 bp, respectively. The utility of this multiplex PCR method will be tested by assessing the diversity of Pratylenchus spp. that occur in Oregon blueberry fields and for the detection of P. penetrans which rarely occurs in Oregon potatoes, but can be highly pathogenic. Ultimately, this diagnostic multiplex PCR assay could be used as an efficient tool for rapid analysis of soil samples in any laboratory equipped for PCR