Development of Penicillium italicum-specific primers for rapid detection among fungal isolates in citrus

Abstract

Blue mold in citrus is caused by Penicillium italicum. In this study, the P. italicum-specific primers were developed for rapid detection based on the conserved genes RPB1 and RPB2 among Penicillium genomes. The two primer pairs RPB1-a and RPB1-b proved to be specific to detect P. italicum. The PCR assay among 39 fungal isolates and the colonial, pathogenic morphologies and molecular methods validated the specificity and reliability of these two primer pairs. This report provided a method and P. italicum-specific primers, which might greatly contribute to citrus postharvest industry.