A consolidative synopsis of the MALDI-TOF MS accomplishments for the rapid diagnosis of microbial plant disease pathogens

In an era when the rising global population has ever-increasing demands, plant resources form an integral part of the basic needs. Plant diseases ruin the harvest and also the hopes of the farmers and the consumers as well. The following review focuses on consolidating the contributions of matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF MS) for microbial plant pathogen detection. MALDI-TOF MS detection of plant pathogenic bacteria, phytoplasma, fungi and viruses has been surveyed and an up to date executive summary presented. The methodological aspects of plant pathogens detection using MALDI-TOF MS have been briefly highlighted. The relatively lesser research interest in the area of implementing MALDI-TOF MS for detection of plant pathogens has been discussed and the plausible reasons for the same has been speculated and the need for involving the highly evolved stateof-the-art MALDI/LDI MS sophistications, has been suggested as future perspective. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This review consolidates the contributions of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for microbial plant pathogen detection, focusing on the detection of plant pathogenic bacteria, phytoplasma, fungi, and viruses. The relatively limited research interest in implementing MALDI-TOF MS for plant pathogen detection is discussed along with the need for advanced MALDI/LDI MS techniques in the future.