Image of the Day: Holey Leaves

ABOVE: Leaf with microneedle patch
RAJESH PAUL

A new technique published on June 9 in ACS Nano uses microneedle patches to extract DNA from plants. The authors report that this protocol collects DNA in one minute, rather than the hours needed for conventional methods. The technique could be used for quicker disease detection in the field.

“When farmers detect a possible plant disease in the field, such as potato late blight, they want to know what it is right away; rapid detection can be important for addressing plant diseases that spread quickly,” says coauthor Qingshan Wei of North Carolina State University in a press release.

R. Paul et al., “Extraction of plant DNA by microneedle patch for rapid detection of plant diseases,” ACS Nano, doi:10.1021/acsnano.9b00193, 2019.

Microneedle patch (left) and scanning electron microscopy image of microneedle patch (right)

RAJESH PAUL (left)/GUOJUN CHEN (right)