Hydrogel-extraction technique for non-invasive detection of blue fluorescent substances in plant leaves

This paper reports a new hydrogel extraction technique for detecting blue fluorescent substances in plant leaves. These blue fluorescent substances were extracted by placing a hydrogel film on the leaf of a cherry tomato plant infected with Ralstonia solanacearum; herein, chlorogenic acid was confirmed to be a blue fluorescent substance. The wavelength at the maximum fluorescence intensity of the film after the hydrogel extraction was similar to that of the methanolic extract obtained from the infected cherry tomato leaves. Chlorophyll was not extracted from the hydrogel film because no fluorescence peak was observed at 680 nm. Accordingly, the blue fluorescence of the substances extracted from the hydrogel film was not quenched by the strong absorption of chlorophyll in the blue light region. This hydrogel extraction technique can potentially detect small amounts of blue fluorescent substances and the changes in its amount within the leaves of infected plants. These changes in the amount of blue fluorescent substances in the early stages of infection can be used to detect presymptomatic infections. Therefore, hydrogel extraction is a promising technique for the noninvasive detection of infections before onset.