Molecular Diagnostics for Soilborne Fungal Pathogens

Abstract

Several classical approaches have been developed to detect and identify soil fungal inhabitants through
the years. Selective media have been devised to exclude the large number of soil organisms and allow growth of
target fungi. However the advent of molecular biology has offered a number of revolutionary insights into the detection
and enumeration of soilborne fungal pathogens and also has started to provide information on the identification
of unknown species from DNA sequences. This review paper focuses on the application of various molecular techniques
in the detection, identification, characterization and quantification of soilborne fungal plant pathogens. This
is based on information from the literature and is combined with personal research findings of the author.