Comparison of qPCR and Metabarcoding Methods as Tools for the Detection of Airborne Inoculum of Forest Fungal Pathogens

Forest diseases caused by invasive fungal pathogens are becoming more common, sometimes with dramatic consequences to forest ecosystems. The development of early detection systems is necessary for efficient surveillance and mitigate the impact pathogens. Windborne spores an important pathway introduction into new areas; design spore trapping devices adapted forests, capable collecting different types spores, aligned molecular methods pathogen, should help managers anticipate disease outbreaks. Two Rotorod samplers were evaluated collection airborne inoculum a range sizes in five types. Detection was specific quantitative PCR (qPCR) high-throughput sequencing (HTS) amplified internal transcribed spacer sequences using bioinformatic pipeline, FungiSearch, developed diagnostic purposes. Validation pipeline conducted on mock communities 10 species belonging taxa. Although sensitivity HTS lower than qPCR, it able detect wide variety FungiSearch easy use, reference database updatable, making tool suitable rapid identification This approach combining promising as