Multiplex molecular testing for plant pathogens

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In the agricultural community, there’s a need for high-quality molecular testing. Pathogens can appear without warning and decimate entire crops. Farmers, plant breeders, and other members of the agricultural community need access to simple, affordable, and accurate tests for known and emerging threats to monitor plant pathogens when they first appear and prevent catastrophic crop or resource loss.

Wageningen Prime Diagnostics was founded two decades ago to address this need. As part of the Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, Prime Diagnostics develops and sells a large portfolio of test kits for crops, garden flowers, and other economically important plants.

Scientists at Wageningen Prime Diagnostics often design multiplex assays to allow customers to test for many pathogens at once. They use Luminex’s bead-based multiplexing disease in potato plants.

Implementing xMAP Technology was important for achieving the level of multiplexing needed for plant pathogen tests. “Some garden plants are notorious for having a lot of pathogens attack them,” van Beckhoven says. “In plant propagation, they multiplex a lot because they have to focus on so many different pathogens. Luminex is perfect for that.” Recently developed tests include an 18-plex kit for petunias, as well as a group of tobamoviruses that infect tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplants.

“Our experience with Luminex has been very good,” says Bergervoet, who develops many of their xMAP-based tests. “The technology is very robust and the bead quality is very consistent.”

That consistency is especially important because customers often run high-volume operations, testing thousands of samples each day in fully automated pipelines. “We looked at what our customers wanted and what Luminex could offer, and it was a good match,” van Beckhoven says. “We have different platforms we develop tests on, and Luminex is the easiest and most robust. It’s almost foolproof.”

Wageningen Prime Diagnostics is one of our exclusive partners that span a wide range of industries and specialties. You can view a full list of our partners by visiting our website, or if you’re interested in becoming a partner, you can learn more here.

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

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