Work at Oregon State Could Speed Up Crown Gall Diagnosis

Crown Gall disease can impact several varieties of crops and researchers at Oregon State University have worked on a way that growers could diagnose the disease rapidly.

OSU Plant Pathology and Botany Associate Professor Jeff Chang said crown gall transforms what a plant does so that it creates food for the disease and could kill weaker, or younger plants.

“Because it genetically modifies its host, once a plant gets it, even if you kill the bacteria with antibiotics, it will still get tumors. The only way to control the pathogen is to throw away that plant.”

This impact the grape, plants or trees sold for aesthetics, and many more industries.

Chang said work done by recent OSU graduate Skylar Fuller, is designed to detect the disease in about 30 minutes and using a consistent temperature as opposed to more complicated methods used currently.

“This piece of paper is able to detect a little molecular tag and if it’s there a band shows up just like a home pregnancy dipstick. If there is product, then there’s no band that shows and the grower has no agrobacteria.”

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