New Type of Citrus Tree Could Be Solution To Greening Disease

Scientists at the University of Florida are testing a new type of citrus tree that can fight off the tiny insects responsible for citrus greening. While the genetically edited tree has only been tested so far in the lab and the greenhouse, it is one of the most promising discoveries to date in a challenge that has plagued growers, researchers and consumers as Florida’s citrus industry has plummeted over the past two decades.

The approach involves inserting a gene into a citrus tree that produces a protein that can kill baby Asian citrus psyllids, the bugs that transmit the greening disease.
That gene normally occurs in a soil-borne bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).

This gene provides instructions for the new citrus tree on how to make this protein. Thus, when you put the gene into the tree, the plant produces the protein that kills psyllids.
While this approach can kill baby psyllids, UF/IFAS scientists are close to finding a solution to control the adult pests.

“We are trying to deploy a biotechnological solution that is sustainable, easy for growers to deploy and replaces the need for spraying insecticides,” says Lukasz Stelinski, an entomology Professor at the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center. “That can’t be done completely with the current Bt trees and thus it might require some additional, albeit reduced, insecticide spraying for adults, for example.”

So far, scientists have developed the modified tree in the lab and the greenhouse. Now, they must prove this method works in the field – and they’re still a few years away from perhaps reaching that conclusion, Stelinski says. They hope to begin testing the trees in about a year.

Through the new research, scientists have found the tree is protected because all juvenile psyllids that feed on the tree are killed, Stelinski adds.

“A citrus tree that produces its own potent defense against the Asian citrus psyllid by preventing this insect from reproducing would reduce or possibly eliminate vector populations.”

For more, continue reading at blogs.ifas.ufl.edu.