When and how to use ELISA Kits for Plant Pathogen Detection

In plant disease diagnostics, ELISA is invaluable for detecting viruses, bacteria, and some fungi directly in leaf sap, seeds, or other plant extracts. It allows researchers and growers to identify infections before visible symptoms appear, making it a cornerstone of integrated disease management.

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Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay - ELISA

Most common method in plant pathogen detection, utilizing specific poly- or monoclonal antibodies and an enzymatic reaction for visualisation of positive samples

When to use ELISA?

  • Routine screening of plant material
  • Analysis of suspicious plant material and identification of pests
  • Diagnostic method with good confidence in positive samples

Advantages and Limitation

    • High throughput screening
    • Robust technique – high reproducibility
    • Requires only little equipment
    • Fast and cheap sample preparation
    • Best performance with plant viruses – some drawbacks with bacteria and fungi (lower specificity)
    • Sensitivity lower than molecular methods

ELISA Complete Kits

Our ELISA Complete kits contain IgG, AP-Conjugate, all buffers, postive and negative controls, as well as ELISA plates for the indicated number of tests. Complete kits are available for 96, 480, for many pathogens as 960, and as 4800 test kits for some pathogens.

Kit Content:

  • ELISA Set (IgG and Conjugate)
  • Positive and Negative Control
  •  Wash Buffer (Powder)
  • Conjugate/Sample Buffer (Powder)
  • Substratebuffer (5x solution)
  •  Tween  20 ™
  • p-Nitrophenylphosphate Substrate
  • ELISA plates (high-binding) with sealing covers

ELISA Sets

ELISA sets contain Coating-IgG and AP-Conjugate for the indicated number of tests.
Sets are supplied as 100, 300, 500, and for many pathogens as 1000 and 5000 test formats.  One test corresponds to one well in the ELISA plate.
Reagents are optimized and evaluated for a test volume of 200 µl.

ELISA Controls 

Positive controls are made from infected plant material or bacterial cultures, if not stated otherwise.
Our ELISA controls are only validated for use in ELISA and are intended to monitor the correct performance of the assay in a qualitative manner. It is the responsibility of the user, to verify any other use themselves!
Restricted Pathogens: in case of quarantine pests, inactivated positive controls are supplied, which are additionally tested for the absence of infectivity.
Non-pathogenic ‘method’ controls can be used to ensure that the ELISA has been carried out correctly. They are supplied as economic alternative for inactivated positive controls. For pathogens with export restrictions solely method controls can be supplied.
Negative controls are made from a healthy host plant and are tested for the absence of the respective pathogen.