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In-field molecular diagnosis of plant diseases via nucleic acid amplification is currently limited by cumbersome protocols for extracting and isolating pathogenic DNA from plant tissues. To address this challenge, a rapid plant DNA extraction method was developed using a disposable polymeric microneedle (MN) patch. By applying MN patches on plant leaves, amplification-assay-ready DNA can be extracted within a minute from different plant species. MNextracted DNA was used for direct polymerase chain reaction amplification of plant plastid DNA without purification. Furthermore, using this patch device, extraction of plant pathogen DNA (Phytophthora infestans) from both laboratoryinoculated and field-infected leaf samples was performed for detection of late blight disease in tomato. MN extraction achieved 100% detection rate of late blight infections for samples after 3 days of inoculation when compared to the conventional gold standard cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-based DNA extraction method and 100% detection rate for all blind field samples tested. This simple, cell-lysis-free, and purification-free DNA extraction method could be a transformative approach to facilitate rapid sample preparation for molecular diagnosis of various plant diseases directly in the field.

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Photocatalytic activities of three composites, namely nickel foam/Ag-TiO 2 , nickel foam/Ag-ZnO, and nickel foam/Ag-WO 3 , were evaluated for toluene degradation in a home-made cuboid photoreactor. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry were employed to characterize these photocatalysts. The photodegradation effects of the three photocatalysts peaked under 60% relative humidity, with nickel foam/Ag-TiO 2 exhibiting the highest rate of photocatalytic toluene degradation. Controlling humidity could enhance the photocatalytic toluene degradation activities of the three composites, which are significantly affected by a wider band gap. In this study, a dynamic model was proposed and analyzed according to the time-dependent photodegradation of toluene.

Q7-31T was screened from seven strains with high plant cell wall (PCW)-degrading enzyme activities and identified as Fusarium sp. based on the morphological characteristics and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA sequence analysis. The protein composition of the secretome produced by Q7-31T grown in a liquid medium with oat straw powders or glucoses as a carbon source was investigated using twodimensional electrophoresis coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. A total of 28 protein species were identified among 115 spots that only existed or had a larger quantity (threefold or more) in the induction medium. As expected, most of them were potentially involved in PCW degradation. Six different superfamilies of glucoside hydrolases (GH5, GH7, GH10, GH13, GH18, and PL1) were identified, and proteases, oxidases, reductases, phospholipases, transferases, and proteins with unknown functions were also detected.