Day 4 of the Diagnostics Short Course is mostly about PCR – but with a good dose of mite identification included for good measure. Dr. Fulya Baysal-Gurel started the day with a lecture on classical PCR methods and isothermal DNA amplification. We will talk about Real-Time PCR on Day 5. After Fulya’s lecture, the group learned all about mite identification from one of the world experts – Dr. Cal Welbourne, Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry via videoconference. In the afternoon, Dr. Andy Michel presented the latest information on the use of PCR to identify insect pests.
The remainder of the afternoon was dedicated to a hands-on PCR lab. During the lab, participants extracted DNA from tomato plants suspected to be infected with Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm). Known cultures of CMM were also prepared for testing. These samples will be tested by endpoint PCR and Real-Time PCR.