Pine
Did you know that pine trees, a uniquely important part of the Japanese landscape, has been severely damaged here and there in Japan by a certain disease?
A pine wood nematode, a filamentous organism (nematode), is the cause of the damages. A pine tree infected with a pine wood nematode suffers from a disease called pine wilt disease, and will die within a few months due to the pine wood nematode growing rapidly in the tree.
In order to protect valuable pine trees, it is indispensable to detect and remove pine wood nematode diseased pine trees at an early stage.
The conventional inspection method required great deal of effort to identify pine wood nematodes from their figure by observing under a microscope from various types of nematodes. We provide kits and services that enable anyone to easily detect pinewood nematodes with high sensitivity.
Pine wood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus)
- Filiform organisms (nematodes) that kill valuable pine trees
- It is important to find and dispose of infected pine early
- Can be detected easily with a kit without having specialized knowledge
The pinewood nematode is a filamentous organism (nematode) that is transmitted by the pinewood beetle and causes pine wilt disease. Pinewood nematode disease is an invasive disease from North America, causing serious damage to non-resistant Japanese pine species such as Pinus densiflora (aka matsu, translated as “Japanese red pine”), Pinus thunbergii (kuro matsu, translated as “Japanese black pine”), Pinus luchuensis (commonly called Luchu pine or Okinawa pine) and P. parviflora var. ‘Templehof’ (a form of Japanese white pine, known in Japan as goyomatsu).
In diseased trees, the pinewood nematode eats pine parenchyma and blue-stain fungi that have invaded the pine, and rapidly grows, resulting in the death of the pine tree in a few months.
The Japanese pine sawyer, a species of beetle, flies to the dead tree and spawns inside the wood, and the pinewood nematode that has moved into the worm body is transmitted to new pine tree with the emergence of the adult.
Early detection and removal of diseased trees are indispensable to prevent the spread of nematode to healthy trees, but to date time-consuming morphological observation using the Baleman method has been used to detect pinewood nematodes from pine wood fragments. In addition to the time required for separation, expensive specialized equipment such as a microscope and knowledge about morphological identification of pinewood nematodes are required. A faster and simpler inspection method is therefore desired.
Nippon gene provide kits and services which enable anyone to easily detect pinewood nematodes with high sensitivity.
Japanese pine sawyer
Diseased pine trees
Detection Kit
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus Detection Kit
A diagnostic kit that detects Bursaphelenchus xylophilus from pine wood pieces.
* The linked page may be in Japanese, please use the translation function of the browser.
Detection Service
Pine Wilt Disease Testing Service
A service to check the presence of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus from the pine wood pieces that you provide.
* The linked page may be in Japanese, please use the translation function of the browser.
External link
