Delta9technologies

Pathogen analysis

Mold, fungi, and bacteria pathogens on cannabis samples can be detrimental to patients health especially when compromised with an auto-immune deficiency. Some of these pathogens include: Aspergillus fumigatus (produces Aflotoxins dangerous for individuals allergic to penicillin), Pennicillium chrysogenum, Cladosporium (over exposure causes asthma and pneumnonia), Alternaria (Hay Fever), yeasts, and Escherichia coli (food poisoning). We also look for Stachybotrys spp, Botrytis cinerea, Mucor spp, and Fusarium solani. Although many labs are using plate cultures to test for these pathogens, Delta-9 Technologies was hesitant to take this approach. First, plate cultures take several days for semi-accurate results to be obtained. Secondly, the culture plates occupy large surface area taking up valuable lab space. The advent of PRC has allowed investigators to rapidly identify specific pathogen species within hours instead of days. Furthermore, 96 DNA samples can be analyzed at a time and only require ~15 µL of a dilute DNA sample. PCR is capable of producing accurate results of a large set of samplesas within hours instead of days setting it apart from plate cultures as an ideal candidate for identifying pathogens on cannabis medicine. PCR has been successfully used in the identification of genus and species-specific Aspergillus DNA and will be adapted to the use in cannabis analyses.

The amplified power of PCR analysis followed by gel electrophoresis.

Click here to perform a virtual polymerase chain reaction (PCR)

Example of a plate count in which specific colonies are maually counted.

This method takes days to get results making it inferior to PCR

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