Identifying diseases caused by pathogens
Scientists use A test to help identify a pathogen or a disease. Tests include observing symptoms, microscopy and staining, cell culture, genome analysis, and using monoclonal antibodies. to find out more about an individual illness. There are a number of diagnostic tests which scientists can use in order to identify the pathogen causing a communicable disease.
Recognising symptoms
If a plant is wilting, what is causing those symptoms? They could be caused by a pathogen or by something else. Other diagnostic tests are required in order to be sure it is being caused by a pathogen, and if so by which pathogen.
Symptoms of plant diseases
Plant Microorganism that causes disease. cause diseases with a range of different symptoms. These symptoms can be used to identify the pathogen and then treat the disease, or limit its effects. The symptoms of common plant infections are shown below.
Image caption, Black spot fungus
Spots on leaves caused by the rose black spot fungus
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Identifying plant diseases
Farmers and gardeners often use books and the internet to identify plant diseases. They can also take a small cutting of an infected plant (or a photograph of it) to a local garden centre, which have staff that can often help identify and treat the disease. For diseases that are more difficult to identify cuttings of the plant may be analysed by scientists in laboratories using testing kits containing Antibodies against a specific antigen, made in a laboratory from clones of a single white blood cell..