Early Detection Methods for Apple Fungal Pathogens During Postharvest Period

Abstract

Postharvest diseases caused by fungal pathogens are one of the major causes of economic losses of horticultural fresh products during the supply chain. Undetected fungal pathogens and mycotoxins contamination caused by some of these fungi are already a concern for food safety scientists. Apple fruits decay caused by fungal infections results in considerable losses during post-harvest storage. The detection of the decay and infection type in the early stage is necessary and helpful for reducing the losses; therefore, rapid and accurate methods are needed for early detection. The polymerase chain reaction and the real-time PCR (qPCR), using specific primers, have been used for the presence and dynamics of pathogen populations during the storage. Apples are suitable substrates for fungal colonization, in storage conditions, mostly caused by Penicillium sp., Botrytis sp., Gloeosporium sp., Neofabrea sp., Monilinia sp. etc.LAMP assays, which can confirm the presence or absence of a specific pathogen in less than half an hour have been also developed for many apple pathogens, as Monilinia laxa, M. fructicola, M. fructigena and Venturia inaequalis. Therefore, this review summarizes the use of early detection by molecular biology technologies, for high sensitivity and specificity, as real time PCR (qPCR) assay and loopmediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of DNA, in detecting and identifying apples fungal pathogens and mycotoxin producing food fungi.