Asymptomatic spread of huanglongbing and implications for disease control.

Huanglongbing (HLB) is a bacterial infection of citrus trees transmitted by the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri. Mitigation of HLB has focused on spraying of insecticides to reduce the psyllid population and removal of trees when they first show symptoms of the disease. These interventions have been only marginally effective, because symptoms of HLB do not appear on leaves for months to years after initial infection.

A plant virus evolved by acquiring multiple nonconserved genes to extend its host range.

Viruses have evolved as combinations of genes whose products interact with cellular components to produce progeny virus throughout the plants. Some viral genes, particularly those that are involved in replication and assembly, tend to be relatively conserved, whereas other genes that have evolved for interactions with the specific host for movement and to counter host-defense systems tend to be less conserved. Closteroviridae encode 1-5 nonconserved ORFs.

Infection with strains of Citrus tristeza virus does not exclude superinfection by other strains of the virus.

Superinfection exclusion or homologous interference, a phenomenon in which a primary viral infection prevents a secondary infection with the same or closely related virus, has been observed commonly for viruses in various systems, including viruses of bacteria, plants, and animals. With plant viruses, homologous interference initially was used as a test of virus relatedness to define whether two virus isolates were "strains" of the same virus or represented different viruses, and subsequently purposeful infection with a mild isolate was implemented as a protective measure against isolates of the virus causing severe disease. In this study we examined superinfection exclusion of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV), a positive-sense RNA closterovirus.

Examination of the responses of different genotypes of citrus to huanglongbing (citrus greening) under different conditions.

ABSTRACT Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) is one of the most devastating diseases of citrus worldwide. The causal agent of HLB in Florida is thought to be 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'. In this work, we examined the responses of 30 different genotypes of citrus to Florida isolates of 'Ca.

In planta distribution of 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' as revealed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR.

Huanglongbing (HLB) is one of the most devastating diseases of citrus worldwide, and is caused by a phloem-limited fastidious prokaryotic alpha-proteobacterium that is yet to be cultured. In this study, a combination of traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and real-time PCR targeting the putative DNA polymerase and 16S rDNA sequence of 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus,' respectively, were used to examine the distribution and movement of the HLB pathogen in the infected citrus tree. We found that 'Ca.

Three genes of Citrus tristeza virus are dispensable for infection and movement throughout some varieties of citrus trees.

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV), a member of the Closteroviridae, possesses a 19.3-kb positive-stranded RNA genome that is organized into twelve open reading frames (ORFs). The CTV genome contains two sets of conserved genes, which are characteristic of this virus group, the replication gene block (ORF 1a and 1b) and the quintuple gene block (p6, HSP70 h, p61, CPm, and CP).