Pressure Cycling Technology Sample Preparation System (PCT SPS) Improves Quantification of Pathogen DNA in Plants and Soil
• Rhizoctonia spp. cause yield-limiting root diseases in the Pacific Northwest
• Rhizoctonia DNA extraction is inconsistent
-- in soil and root samples
-- at low soil population densities
-- due to tough hyphae
-- due to formation of survival structures
• Conventional DNA extraction methods cause shearing, heating, cellular debris
• Sample contamination can occur with mortar/pestle homogenization
• Triplicate extracts of samples are required for reliable real-time PCR quantification.