Fig 4.
Detection of Ceratocystis platani in Whatman no. 1 filter papers artificially inoculated with conidial suspensions. The quantity of C. platani DNA detected by real-time PCR for the ITS region was related to the conidial dilution. A nonlinear regression (y = a + bex) was fitted to the natural logarithm (ln)-transformed data, where x = ln(conidial dilution) and y = ln(total DNA) extracted from conidia. The results obtained from the conidial suspensions applied to the Whatman filter papers (open symbols and broken line; y = −3.97 + 0.078ex) or from conidial suspensions in distilled water (closed symbols and continuous line; y = −4.22 + 0.093ex) were compared. Insets report parameter value estimates (a and b) ± 95% confidence interval.