Real-time PCR for detection and quantification of fungal and oomycete tomato pathogens in plant and soil samples

Although new, rapid detection and identification technologies are becoming available more and more for various plant pathogens, pathogen quantification remains one of the main challenges in the disease management of many crops. Currently, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the most straightforward technique to quantify pathogen presence. This manuscript describes the use of real-time PCR to quantitatively assess the presence of a number of economically important fungal and oomycete tomato pathogens in biological samples. We demonstrate that pathogen DNA can be accurately quantified over at least four orders of magnitude. Additionally, we demonstrate the feasibility of the technique to quantify pathogen biomass in complex biological samples.