Use of micro-CT to elucidate details of the anatomy and feeding of the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, 1908 (Insecta: Hemiptera, Liviidae)

Authors: ALBA-TERCEDOR, JAVIER - Universidad De Granada; Hunter, Wayne; CICERO, JOSEPH - University Of Florida; SÁINZ-BARIÁIN, MARTA - Universidad De Granada; BROWN, SUSAN - Arkansas State University

Submitted to: Royal Microscopical Society Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/30/2016
Publication Date: 6/13/2017
Citation: Alba-Tercedor, J., Hunter, W.B., Cicero, J.M., Sáinz-Bariáin, M., Brown, S.J. 2017. Use of micro-CT to elucidate details of the anatomy and feeding of the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, 1908 (Insecta: Hemiptera, Liviidae). In: Proceedings of Micro-CT User Meeting 2017, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Science, Brussels, Belgian, p. 270-285.

Interpretive Summary: Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening disease, is caused by plant-infecting bacteria. The most prominent pathogen within the Americas: United States of America, Mexico, and Brazil, is Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which affects plants of the Family: Rutaceae, in particularly citrus fruit crops of economic importance: lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and kumquats. HLB represents the most important threat to citrus sustainability worldwide. Bacterial infection causes loss of yield, bad tasting fruit, and eventually tree death. Micro-CT, is extremely useful to visualize micro-anatomical structures of insects, and in this case to visualize the stylets and salivary sheaths of plant-feeding Hemiptera. The feeding mechanism of these “pierce-sucking feeding” insects is invisible to the eye, and normally would require hundreds of hours to prepare for standard Transmission electron microscopy analyses. The continued expansion of micro-CT, nano-CT, and fluorescent labeling techniques, will continue to produce images with greater resolution, and no doubt with new applications in biological studies and research.

Technical Abstract: Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening disease, is caused by plant-infecting bacteria. The most prominent pathogen within the Americas: United States of America, Mexico, and Brazil, is Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, which affects plants of the Family: Rutaceae, in particularly citrus fruit crops of economic importance: lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and kumquats. HLB represents the most important threat to citrus sustainability worldwide. Bacterial infection causes loss of yield, bad tasting fruit, and eventually tree death. Using CTVox’s volume rendering visualization with a wide angle, permitted zooming in and virtually travelling inside the lumina, hollows and passageways of the leaf structures (ie. Phloem and xylem). Thus it was possible to penetrate and visualize the inside the leaf, then to navigate through the parenchyma to locate and visualize not only abandoned salivary sheaths, but also those inserted into the phloem and xylem vessels. The sheaths being evidence of the psyllid’s feeding activities. Micro-CT, is extremely useful to enhance micro-anatomical structures of insects, and in this case to visualize the stylets and salivary sheaths of plant-feeding Hemiptera. The feeding mechanism of these “pierce-sucking feeding” insects is invisible to the eye, and normally would require hundreds of hours to prepare for standard Transmission electron microscopy analyses. The continued expansion of micro-CT, nano-CT, and fluorescent labeling techniques, will continue to produce images with greater resolution, which enabled visualizing structures in 3-D which could not be seen previously.