Molecular Methods for Identification and Quantification of Foodborne Pathogens.

Foodborne pathogens that enter the human food chain are a significant threat worldwide to human health. Timely and cost-effective detection of them became challenging for many countries that want to improve their detection and control of foodborne illness. We summarize simple, rapid, specific, and highly effective molecular technology that is used to detect and identify foodborne pathogens, including polymerase chain reaction, isothermal amplification, loop-mediated isothermal amplification, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification, as well as gene chip and gene probe technology. The principles of their operation, the research supporting their application, and the advantages and disadvantages of each technology are summarized.

Taxonomic response of bacterial and fungal populations to biofertilizers applied to soil or substrate in greenhouse-grown cucumber.

Reductions in the quality and yield of crops continuously produced in the same location for many years due to annual increases in soil-borne pathogens. Environmentally-friendly methods are needed to produce vegetables sustainably and cost effectively under protective cover. We investigated the impact of biofertilizers on cucumber growth and yield, and changes to populations of soil microorganisms in response to biofertilizer treatments applied to substrate or soil. We observed that some biofertilizers significantly increased cucumber growth and decreased soil-borne pathogens in soil and substrate. Rhizosphere microbial communities in soil and substrate responded differently to different biofertilizers, which also led to significant differences in microbial diversity and taxonomic structure at different times in the growing season. Biofertilizers increase the prospects of re-using substrate for continuously producing high-quality crops cost-effectively from the same soil each year while at the same time controlling soil-borne disease.