Helping Growers Fight Citrus Greening Disease

Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, has been a serious threat to the U.S. citrus industry. HLB is associated with citrus tree infection with the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and continues to spread to many citrus-growing areas worldwide. In Florida, HLB has caused losses of about 90% to citrus production since it was first detected in 2005. 

For decades, scientists have struggled to culture the bacterium associated with this disease outside of its living hosts. The inability to culture the bacterium made research on the biology of the disease difficult, and scientists could not easily identify compounds that kill the bacterium or halt its growth. ARS researchers at the U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory in Fort Pierce, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Florida and Clemson University, developed an artificial food source as well as a protocol for successful co-culture of the bacterium in the laboratory. The new co-culturing method provides opportunities for accelerating HLB research and, therefore, finding solutions for citrus growers and producers to control HLB in their citrus groves. 

Publication: Towards the completion of Koch's postulates for the citrus huanglongbing bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus

###