Yuan and Claire's paper on citrus immune responses is now published in MPMI and is the editor's pick for March! We used a comparative genomics bioinformatic screen to identify putative microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) from Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, one of the presumed causal agents of citrus greening. Citrus greening (also called Huanglongbing) is devastating Florida's citrus industry, and is affecting trees in Texas and California. One MAMP peptide, in particular, elicited reactive oxygen species production in Arabidopsis, Nicotiana benthamiana and multiple citrus species. As well, it caused different immune gene expression in citrus, and enhanced immunity in Arabidopsis to another bacterial pathogen. This approach could be used to help boost plant immunity and protect citrus from disease.
Posted Dec 13, 2019, updated March 24, 2020.