SCAR marker: A potential tool for authentication of agriculturally important microorganisms.

Microbial inoculants are globally recommended for plant growth promotion and control of plant pathogens. These inoculants require stringent quality checks for sustainable field efficacy. Questionable regulatory frameworks constantly deteriorate the reliability of bio-inoculant technology. Existing global regulations do not involve any rapid molecular technique for the routine inspection of microbial preparations. Sequence characterized amplified region (SCAR) marker offers rapid and precise strain-level authentication of target microbes. Such advanced molecular techniques must be exploited to accurately validate the microbial formulations. Besides, the global dissemination of plant pathogenic microbes has always been an alarming threat to food security. SCAR markers could be used at the plant quarantine centers to rapidly detect catastrophic pathogens, thereby circumventing the import and export of contagious plant materials. The current review is focused on promoting the SCAR marker technology to validate commercial bio-inoculants and predict plant pandemics.