CDIA^TM Pythium spp. (Pyth) Test Cassette (DTSPF2)

General Description

Pythium is a genus of parasitic oomycotes. Pythium-induced root rot and damping-off are very common problems in fields and greenhouses. Pythium spp. tend to be very generalistic and unspecific in their host range and they infect a large range of hosts.

Principle Of The Test

The development of rapid test strips is based on Lateral Flow Device (LFD) technology using specific antibodies. A LFD format consists of antibody-coated latex beads latex (or colloidal gold) which will bind the specific pathogen antigen absorbed from the plant extract. The agglutination is accumulated at a specific location by the presence of a line of target specific antibody, which immobilises the agglutinated latex whilst allowing the background reagents to be washed away by continued flow along the membrane. The membrane contains a strip of target-specific antibody, test strip and a strip of another antibody that binds to the specific antibody, control strip. Latex beads containing bound antigen are trapped on the test strip leaving a visible line. Surplus latex beads that do not contain antigen are trapped on the control strip showing that the assay has worked. This provides a non-subjective and clear read out of a positive result against a low background.