Project description:Devastating citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB) is without existing cures. Herein, we present results demonstrating the possible mechanisms (hypoxia stress) behind HLB-triggered shoot dieback by comparing the transcriptomes, hormone profiles, and key enzyme activities in buds of severely and mildly symptomatic ‘Hamlin’ sweet orange (Citrus sinensis). Within six months (October – May) in field conditions, severe trees had 23% bud dieback, greater than mild trees (11%), with a concomitant reduction in canopy density. In February, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) associated with responses to osmotic stress, low oxygen levels, and cell death were upregulated, with those for photosynthesis and cell cycle downregulated in severe versus mild trees. For severe trees, not only were the key markers for hypoxia, including anaerobic fermentation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and lipid oxidation, transcriptionally upregulated, but also alcohol dehydrogenase activity was significantly greater compared to mild trees, indicating a link between bud dieback and hypoxia. Tricarboxylic acid cycle revival, given the upregulation of glutamate dehydrogenase and alanine aminotransferase DEGs, suggests that ROS may also be generated during hypoxiareoxygenation. Greater (hormonal) ratios of abscisic acid to cytokinins and jasmonates and upregulated DEGs encoding NADPH oxidases in severe versus mild trees indicate additional ROS production under limited oxygen availability due to stomata closure. Altogether, our results provided evidence that as HLB progresses, excessive ROS produced in response to hypoxia and during hypoxia-reoxygenation likely intensify the oxidative stress in buds leading to cell death, contributing to marked bud and shoot dieback and decline of the severely symptomatic sweet orange trees.
Project description:To identify genes associated with citrus peel development and manifestation of peel disorders, we analyzed flavedo, albedo and juice sac tissues from navel orange displaying, and not displaying, the puff disorder. Symptomatic and healthy M-bM-^@M-^\NavelM-bM-^@M-^] orange fruits were harvested from an orchard located in in Pauma Valley, San Diego County, California, USA. Sampling for all analysis (healthy or disordered Navel orange) was performed at the same time, from trees grown under the same agronomic, soil, and environmental conditions. Healthy and disordered fruits were analyzed at the mature stage. All transcriptome analysis was performed on mature fruit. For each type of fruit, three tissues (flavedo, albedo, and juice sacs) from three different trees (biological replicates) were separately analyzed. Four symptomatic fruits comprised one biological replicate each. Two healthy fruits comprised two biological replicates of control samples. A 1 cm-thick equatorial disc and four sections (N, S, E, and W) were cut per fruit. Each section of flavedo, albedo, and juice sac tissue was dissected. gene expression variation underlying quality trait, different genotypes
Project description:With the aid of a biochip, carrying representative sequences from approximately 2200 sequences from the genome of isolate 9a5c from X. fastidiosa (Xf), microarray-based comparisons have been performed with 6 different Xf isolates obtained from citrus plants (Table 1). Four of these isolates (56a, 9.12c, 187b, and 36f) were obtained from CVC-affected trees and are representatives of the most prevalent Xf haplotypes found in sweet orange orchards across the state of São Paulo, while isolate CV21 was obtained from a non-symptomatic tree from the same region. Isolate Fb7, on the other hand, was obtained from a sweet orange tree that displayed symptoms of “Pecosita”, a disease similar to CVC that occurs in some citrus-growing regions of Argentina. Keywords: Comparative Genomic Hybridization
Project description:Citrus greening or huanglongbing (HLB) is a devastating disease of citrus. HLB is associated with the phloem-limited fastidious prokaryotic alpha-proteobacterium Candidatus Liberibacter spp. In this report, we used sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) leaf tissue infected with 'Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus' and compared this with healthy controls. Investigation of the host response was examined with citrus microarray hybridization based on 30,171 sets expressed sequence tag sequences from several citrus species and hybrids. The microarray analysis indicated that HLB infection significantly affected expression of 624 genes whose encoded proteins were categorized according to function. The categories included genes associated with sugar metabolism, plant defense, phytohormone, and cell wall metabolism, as well as 14 other gene categories. Young, healthy Valencia sweet orange (C. sinensis) plants were graft inoculated with budwood from Ca. L. asiaticus-infected citrus plants. Prior to the innocualtion, the plants were confirmed to be Ca. L. asiaticus-free in ordinary and quantitative PCR tests. The presence of the bacteria in the inoculated plants was confirmed in both conventional and quantitative PCR with specific primers to Ca. L. asiaticus. The stem and root samples used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays were obtained from three symptomatic and three healthy control trees of similar size, approximately 1 year after inoculation.
Project description:We evaluated the effect on citrus trees of two newly-identified molecules, benzbromarone and tolfenamic acid, used as antimicrobials in commercial groves of sweet orange (Citrus sinensis). We delivered the molecules by trunk injection and evaluated safety and efficacy parameters by performing RNAseq of the citrus host responses.
Project description:Huanglongbing (HLB) is considered the most destructive disease in Citrus production and threatens the future of the industry. Microbial derived defence elicitors have gained recognition for their role in plant defence priming. A transcriptomic assessment using GeneChip microarray of the hour 6 samples revealed differential expression of 565 genes when MFA was applied to healthy trees and 909 genes when applied infected citrus trees when compared to their respective controls. There were 403 uniquely differentially expressed genes in response to MFA following an intersectional analysis of both healthy and infected citrus trees. The transcriptomic analysis revealed that several genes associated with plant development, growth and defence were upregulated in response to MFA, including, multiple PR genes, lignin formation genes, ROS related genes, hormone synthases and hormone regulators.
Project description:Lisbon lemon trees were grafted with budwood infected with the citrus greening bacterium, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', or control budwood, and leaf samples were collected every two weeks post graft for LC/MS analysis. This project has shotgun proteomics data for leaf samples from 5 control and 5 CLas grafted trees at the two week post graft timepoint.
Project description:Lisbon lemon trees were grafted with budwood infected with the citrus greening bacterium, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', or control budwood, and leaf samples were collected every two weeks post graft for LC/MS analysis. This project has shotgun proteomics data for leaf samples from 5 control and 5 CLas grafted trees at the 10 week post graft timepoint.