Advances in Microfluidics for Plant Pathogen Diagnostics

Abstract

Early detection of plant pathogens is essential to maintain global food production and ecosystem resilience, especially as climate change creates new ecological niches that favour the emergence and spread of novel pathogens. Laboratory-based diagnostic methods, including ELISA and PCR, while accurate, are unsuitable for on-site (directly at the point of sample collection) testing. Recent advances in microfluidics, including polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based chips and paper-based platforms, offer solutions for this by enabling rapid and sensitive diagnostics with results obtained directly in the field. This mini review gives a short overview of channel-flow, paper, droplet and digital microfluidics-based platforms integrated with nucleic acid amplification, immunosensors or morphological methods for fungal, oomycete, bacterial and viral detection. We touch on recent material enhancements and sample preparation strategies that have improved the performance of these devices. Finally, we explore the challenges and opportunities of deploying miniature diagnostic devices across diverse agricultural and environmental settings, emphasising the need for specificity and reliability in detecting plant pathogens, supporting timely disease management.