Journal
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
Volume 12, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.641457
Keywords
Asian citrus psyllid; biotechnology; HLB; sesquiterpenes; chemical ecology; Citrus sinensis; transgenic; volatiles
Categories
Funding
- Fundo de Defesa da Citricultura (Fundecitrus)
- Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) [2015/07011-3]
- EU H2020 Innovation Action Program [817526]
- National Technical Biosafety Commission from Brazil (CTNBio)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Huanglongbing is a destructive disease endangering the citrus industry globally, with no effective control methods currently available. Genetically modified sweet orange lines emitting a sesquiterpene repellent to the main HLB psyllid vector show promising results in repelling the insect and providing a new approach for possible HLB control in the field.
Huanglongbing (HLB) is a destructive disease, associated with psyllid-transmitted phloem-restricted pathogenic bacteria, which is seriously endangering citriculture worldwide. It affects all citrus species and cultivars regardless of the rootstock used, and despite intensive research in the last decades, there is no effective cure to control either the bacterial species (Candidatus Liberibacter spp.) or their insect vectors (Diaphorina citri and Trioza erytreae). Currently, the best attempts to manage HLB are based on three approaches: (i) reducing the psyllid population by intensive insecticide treatments; (ii) reducing inoculum sources by removing infected trees, and (iii) using nursery-certified healthy plants for replanting. The economic losses caused by HLB (decreased fruit quality, reduced yield, and tree destruction) and the huge environmental costs of disease management seriously threaten the sustainability of the citrus industry in affected regions. Here, we have generated genetically modified sweet orange lines to constitutively emit (E)-beta-caryophyllene, a sesquiterpene repellent to D. citri, the main HLB psyllid vector. We demonstrate that this alteration in volatile emission affects behavioral responses of the psyllid in olfactometric and no-choice assays, making them repellent/less attractant to the HLB vector, opening a new alternative for possible HLB control in the field.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available