Overexpression of VvmybA1 transcription factor in 'Hamlin' citrus enhances cold tolerance by increasing anthocyanin accumulation. This results in improved ROS scavenging, altered gene expression, and stomatal regulation, highlighting anthocyanins' essential role in citrus cold acclimation. Cold stress is a significant threat to citrus cultivation, impacting tree health and productivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA lipofectamine-mediated transfection protocol for DNA-free genome editing of citrus protoplast cells using a Cas9/gRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex resulted in the production of transgene free genome edited citrus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnzymatic browning poses a significant challenge that limits in vitro propagation and genetic transformation of plant tissues. This research focuses on investigating how adding antioxidant substances can suppress browning, leading to improved efficiency in transforming plant tissues using Agrobacterium and subsequent plant regeneration from rough lemon (Citrus × jambhiri). When epicotyl segments of rough lemon were exposed to Agrobacterium, they displayed excessive browning and tissue decay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnthocyanins are a class of natural pigments that accumulate transiently or permanently in plant tissues, often in response to abiotic and biotic stresses. They play a photoprotective role by attenuating the irradiance incident on the photochemical apparatus and quenching oxyradicals through their powerful anti-oxidative function. The objective of the current study is to understand the impact of introducing mybA1 () in 'Hamlin' sweet orange trees on various aspects, including photosynthetic performance, pigment composition, and gene expression related to photosynthesis and light harvesting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Australian finger lime () is tolerant to Huanglongbing (HLB; Citrus greening). This species can be utilized to develop HLB tolerant citrus cultivars through conventional breeding and biotechnological approaches. In this report, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of transcriptomic data following a non-choice infection assay to understand the Las tolerance mechanisms in the finger lime.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStem pitting is a complex and economically important virus-associated disease of perennial woody plants. Molecular mechanisms and pathways occurring during virus-plant interaction that result in this phenomenon are still obscure. Previous studies indicated that different (CTV) mutants induce defined stem pitting phenotypes ranging from mild (CTVΔp13) to severe (CTVΔp33) in trees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOverexpression of the salicylic acid binding protein 2 (SABP2) gene from Tobacco results in enhanced tolerance to Huanglongbing (HLB; citrus greening disease) in transgenic sweet oranges. Huanglongbing (HLB), the most destructive citrus disease, is caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CaLas). Currently, no cure for this disease exists, and all commercially planted cultivars are highly susceptible.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCitrus is a major fruit crop cultivated on a global scale. Citrus trees are long lived perennials with a large canopy. Understanding the genetic control of tree architecture could provide tools for breeding and selection of citrus cultivars suitable for high density planting with improved light exposure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The genetic engineering of crops has enhanced productivity in the face of climate change and a growing global population by conferring desirable genetic traits, including the enhancement of biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, to improve agriculture. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) system has been found to be a promising technology for genomic editing. Protoplasts are often utilized for the development of genetically modified plants through in vitro integration of a recombinant DNA fragment into the plant genome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuanglongbing (HLB), caused by Candidatus `Liberibacter asiaticus' (CLas), is a phloem-limited disease that disrupts citrus production in affected areas. In HLB-affected plants, phloem sieve plate pores accumulate callose, and leaf carbohydrate export is reduced. However, whether HLB causes a reduction in carbohydrate phloem translocation speed and the quantitative relationships among callose, CLas population and phloem translocation are still unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Australian finger lime is a unique citrus species that has gained importance due to its unique fruit characteristics and perceived tolerance to Huanglongbing (HLB), an often-fatal disease of citrus trees. In this study, we developed allotetraploid finger lime hybrids and cybrids by utilizing somatic cell fusion techniques to fuse diploid 'OLL8' sweet orange or 'Page' tangelo callus-derived protoplasts with finger lime (FL) mesophyll-derived protoplasts. Six somatic fusions were regenerated from the 'OLL8' + FL fusion, while three putative cybrids were regenerated from the 'Page' + FL fusion.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShortening the juvenile stage in citrus and inducing early flowering has been the focus of several citrus genetic improvement programs. FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) is a small phloem-translocated protein that regulates precocious flowering. In this study, two populations of transgenic Carrizo citrange rootstocks expressing either Citrus clementina FT1 or FT3 genes under the control of the Arabidopsis thaliana phloem specific SUCROSE SYNTHASE 2 (AtSUC2) promoter were developed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe citrus industry at present is severely affected by huanglongbing disease (HLB). HLB is caused by the supposed bacterial pathogen " Liberibacter asiaticus" and is transmitted by the insect vector, the Asian citrus psyllid, Kuwayama. Developing new citrus hybrids to improve HLB management is much needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Development of precise genome editing strategies is a prerequisite for producing edited plants that can aid in the study of gene function and help understand the genetic traits in a cultivar. Citrus embryogenic cell cultures can be used to rapidly produce a large population of genome edited transformed citrus lines. The ability to introduce specific mutations in the genome of these cells using two constructs (pC-PDS1 and pC-PDS2) was evaluated in this study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHuanglongbing (HLB), a bacterial disease caused by Liberibacter asiaticus (Las), is a major threat to the citrus industry. In a previous study conducted by our laboratory, several citrus transgenic trees expressing the () gene remained HLB-free when grown in a field site under high HLB disease pressure. To determine the molecular mechanisms behind mediated tolerance to HLB, a transcriptome analysis was performed using overexpressing transgenic trees and non-transgenic trees as control, from which we identified 57 differentially expressed genes (DEGs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHorticultural crops, including fruit, vegetable, and ornamental plants are an important component of the agriculture production systems and play an important role in sustaining human life. With a steady growth in the world's population and the consequent need for more food, sustainable and increased fruit and vegetable crop production is a major challenge to guarantee future food security. Although conventional breeding techniques have significantly contributed to the development of important varieties, new approaches are required to further improve horticultural crop production.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCitrus greening or Huanglongbing (HLB) is caused by the phloem-limited intracellular Gram-negative bacterium Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). HLB-infected citrus phloem cells undergo structural modifications that include cell wall thickening, callose and phloem protein induction, and cellular plugging. However, very little is known about the intracellular mechanisms that take place during CLas cell-to-cell movement.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn citrus, genetic improvement via biotechnology is challenging due to insufficient understanding of molecular barriers that prevent regeneration by somatic embryogenesis (SE). Our previous study indicated that LEC genes were involved in SE in citrus, but their regulatory roles remain to be elucidated. Here, we cloned one of the LEC genes, CsFUS3, and show that it is preferentially expressed during SE and in the embryogenic callus (EC) derived from citrus varieties with strong embryogenic competence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPremise Of The Study: Phloem-limited diseases are becoming increasingly pervasive, threatening the existence of crops worldwide. Studies of phloem diseases are complicated by the inaccessibility of the phloem tissue. Phloem cells are located deep inside the plant body, are interspersed with other cell types, are among the smallest cells in the plant kingdom, and make up a small percentage of the total cell population in a plant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe embryo-specific Dc3 gene promoter driving the VvMybA1 anthocyanin regulatory gene was used to develop a visual selection system for the genetic transformation of citrus. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cell suspension cultures resulted in the production of purple transgenic somatic embryos that could be easily separated from the green non-transgenic embryos. The somatic embryos produced phenotypically normal plants devoid of any visual purple coloration.
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