Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests

Summary: Crop pests and diseases increasingly challenge the global food system. To prepare for and detect outbreaks, surveillance plays an important role. Traditional monitoring methods are often organism-specific, making large-scale monitoring of crop pathogens and pests impractical. We here invest...

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Main Authors: Amanda Mikko, Jose Antonio Villegas, Daniel Svensson, Edvin Karlsson, Per-Anders Esseen, Benedicte Riber Albrectsen, Ola Lundin, Mats Forsman, Anna Berlin, Per Stenberg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-07-01
Series:iScience
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225011733
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author Amanda Mikko
Jose Antonio Villegas
Daniel Svensson
Edvin Karlsson
Per-Anders Esseen
Benedicte Riber Albrectsen
Ola Lundin
Mats Forsman
Anna Berlin
Per Stenberg
author_facet Amanda Mikko
Jose Antonio Villegas
Daniel Svensson
Edvin Karlsson
Per-Anders Esseen
Benedicte Riber Albrectsen
Ola Lundin
Mats Forsman
Anna Berlin
Per Stenberg
author_sort Amanda Mikko
collection DOAJ
description Summary: Crop pests and diseases increasingly challenge the global food system. To prepare for and detect outbreaks, surveillance plays an important role. Traditional monitoring methods are often organism-specific, making large-scale monitoring of crop pathogens and pests impractical. We here investigate the potential for using shotgun sequencing of airborne eDNA for large-scale surveillance of crop pathogens and pests. We show that it is possible to detect DNA from all types of organisms in air, and that DNA can be classified down to species level. However, the accuracy of the identification is highly dependent on the quality of reference genomes of both the pathogens or pests, and their close relatives present in the region. Finally, we find that observed degree of crop damages correlate with amount of DNA from crop pathogens and pests in air, showing the promise of this approach for surveillance of all types of crop pathogens and pests.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2589-0042
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Elsevier
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series iScience
spelling doaj-art-7caafb3cdcc549c1b241e9423ef60ad02025-08-20T03:32:50ZengElsevieriScience2589-00422025-07-0128711291210.1016/j.isci.2025.112912Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pestsAmanda Mikko0Jose Antonio Villegas1Daniel Svensson2Edvin Karlsson3Per-Anders Esseen4Benedicte Riber Albrectsen5Ola Lundin6Mats Forsman7Anna Berlin8Per Stenberg9Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; CBRN Defence and Security, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenUmeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SwedenCBRN Defence and Security, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Umeå, SwedenDepartment of Forest Mycology and Plant Pathology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SwedenDepartment of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; CBRN Defence and Security, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Umeå, Sweden; Corresponding authorSummary: Crop pests and diseases increasingly challenge the global food system. To prepare for and detect outbreaks, surveillance plays an important role. Traditional monitoring methods are often organism-specific, making large-scale monitoring of crop pathogens and pests impractical. We here investigate the potential for using shotgun sequencing of airborne eDNA for large-scale surveillance of crop pathogens and pests. We show that it is possible to detect DNA from all types of organisms in air, and that DNA can be classified down to species level. However, the accuracy of the identification is highly dependent on the quality of reference genomes of both the pathogens or pests, and their close relatives present in the region. Finally, we find that observed degree of crop damages correlate with amount of DNA from crop pathogens and pests in air, showing the promise of this approach for surveillance of all types of crop pathogens and pests.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225011733Environmental monitoringEnvironmental biotechnologyOmicsGenomicsAgricultural science
spellingShingle Amanda Mikko
Jose Antonio Villegas
Daniel Svensson
Edvin Karlsson
Per-Anders Esseen
Benedicte Riber Albrectsen
Ola Lundin
Mats Forsman
Anna Berlin
Per Stenberg
Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests
iScience
Environmental monitoring
Environmental biotechnology
Omics
Genomics
Agricultural science
title Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests
title_full Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests
title_fullStr Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests
title_full_unstemmed Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests
title_short Sequencing airborne DNA to monitor crop pathogens and pests
title_sort sequencing airborne dna to monitor crop pathogens and pests
topic Environmental monitoring
Environmental biotechnology
Omics
Genomics
Agricultural science
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004225011733
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AT benedicteriberalbrectsen sequencingairbornednatomonitorcroppathogensandpests
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