Microarrays.

The use of DNA microarrays in plant disease diagnosis allows tens or thousands of individual tests to be carried out in a single assay. For plant virus testing, microarrays are usually more sensitive than ELISA but less sensitive than real-time PCR assays. This chapter discusses the use of microarrays in the detection of plant pathogens, focusing on viruses. The alternative microarray platforms and array design are described. In disease diagnostics, due to the development of diagnostic-centred microarray platforms such as tube and bead arrays, the use of microarrays is likely to continue to increase, as they allow relatively cheaper routine testing for defined sets of pathogens compared to next-generation sequencing.