Institut für Epidemiologie und Pathogendiagnostik
Pucciniales is the fungal order with the highest number of species on the EPPO A1/A2 and EU quarantine species lists. To enable adequate action in an outbreak situation or after introduction of a quarantine rust fungus, robust, sensitive and efficient diagnostic methods are required. To develop diagnostic tools for rust fungi, a comprehensive and accessible collection of well-identified and verified reference material is crucial. Access to voucher specimens, sequences associated with these and positive control DNA, would enable laboratories to develop new methods and validate existing diagnostic assays for rust fungi. The specimens collected during the national surveys shall be used to build a library of DNA-barcode sequences (ITS, LSU, and Btub or TEF as needed) and can also be used as reference material to potentially be used for high throughput sequencing approaches. Also, standardised protocols, specifically designed for rust pathogen diagnostics, are required for efficient and proficient detection and identification of these fungi. Once a diagnostic test has been developed by one partner, interlaboratory proficiency testing will be considered for a selection of assays to test the ability of other labs to effectively use these diagnostic tools. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry protocols for fungi, including rusts, have already shown potential for efficient and specific diagnostics. Diagnostic protocols are relatively simple and since MALDI-TOF instruments are already in use for bacterial diagnostics, access to the equipment is becoming more common in diagnostic laboratories. Thus, exploring the wider application of MALDI-TOF for rust fungi diagnostics and developing a library of reference spectra would be a significant step forward to applying this new diagnostic tool to a wider range of fungal plant pathogens.
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
