PLANT-DX: Field-based Multiplexed Crop Pathogen Surveillance

We propose an unconventional approach to transform PoC crop disease diagnostics by developing a “multiplexed” system that simultaneously reports on the presence of multiple plant pathogens with simple visual outputs. Our PLANT-dx (Point of care Laboratory for Nucleic Acids in a Tube) system will be low cost, easy to use, sensitive, robust in field conditions, and readily integrated with cellphone based networked surveillance systems. PLANT-dx is designed to enable global crop pathogen surveillance programs in low-income countries by integrating several key features: (1) only simple, inexpensive sample preparation steps (crushing, mixing, body heat) are required to operate the diagnostic and obtain real-time results, (2) the system can be engineered to detect any type of pathogen from any type of plant, and (3) the visual outputs are easily captured by cell-phone cameras facilitating downstream analysis, communication, and surveillance of pathogen burden.