On-site applicable diagnostic fluorescent probe for fire blight bacteria

Summary: Fire blight is a representative plant infection that contaminates edible plants and causes socio-economic problems in agricultural and livestock industries globally. It is caused by the pathogen Erwinia amylovora (E. amylovora) creates lethal plant necrosis and spreads rapidly across plant organs. We newly disclose the fluorogenic probe B-1 for real-time on-site detection of fire blight bacteria for the first time. B-1 exhibited no emission signals but manifested bright emission properties in the presence of fire blight bacteria. Based on these features, fluorescence imaging of the fire blight bacteria and its real-time detection from the infected host plant tissues were conducted. The detection limit against E. amylovora was 102 CFU/mL, which had excellent sensitivity. The fluorogenic probe-based on-site diagnostic technology was supplemented by introducing a new portable UV device. This work holds enormous potential to be a new advanced tool for detecting fire blight in agricultural and livestock industries.