Molecular Approaches for Detection of Pebrine Disease in Sericulture

Nosema bombycis is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes pebrine disease by infecting Bombyx mori. The disease is transmitted transovarially and spreads rapidly in silkworm seed multiplication farms. Pebrine is the only quarantine requirement in silkworm egg production and is usually monitored by mother insect examination and light microscopy for specific spores. Practically spore detection is a bit technical, laborious and the life cycle stages of N. bombycis can also be observed by microscopy. However, routine monitoring of pebrine disease through light microscopy is limited by specificity and sensitivity. More practical and feasible diagnostic methods for pebrine monitoring have emerged with the development of immunodiagnostic and nucleic acid based detection techniques. Immunodiagnostic assays such as latex agglutination and ELISA using polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies were developed for diagnosis and characterization of microsporidian infections. However, false positives and low level infections made immunoassays less reliable. Nucleic acid based detection methods using DNA sequences specific for N. bombycis can detect particularly low levels of infection. Major DNA diagnostics for detecting N. bombycis include PCR, loop mediated isothermal amplification LAMP and lateral flow assays that are high throughput and quantitative, as well as capable of detecting multiple diseases simultaneously. Molecular diagnostic techniques are more advantageous than microscopy because of increased sensitivity, specificity, rapid and easy result interpretations. The molecular diagnostic tests described for the identification of microsporidia infecting mulberry silkworm are given in this chapter. Ayantika Bhardwaj | Ashok Kr. Thakur "Molecular Approaches for Detection of Pebrine Disease in Sericulture" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-8 | Issue-3 , June 2024, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd66036.pdf Paper Url: https://www.ijtsrd.com/biological-science/biotechnology/66036/molecular-approaches-for-detection-of-pebrine-disease-in-sericulture/ayantika-bhardwaj