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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Riverside, California » National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #409281
Research Project: Conservation, Management and Distribution of Citrus and Date Genetic Resources and Associated Information

Location: National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus

Title: New pathogen testing tools for safe movement of citrus germplasm in the Huanglongbing (HLB) era

Author
item Keremane, Manjunath
item RAMADUGU, C - University Of California, Riverside
item SINGH, K - University Of California, Riverside
item Krueger, Robert

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/8/2023
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Many novel citrus cultivars and hybrids are developed by researchers to generate HLB-tolerant/resistant varieties. It is essential to test the new varieties in various agro-climatic conditions to ensure durable disease resistance/tolerance. Since citrus is susceptible to many graft-transmissible viral and bacterial pathogens, it is imperative to conduct thorough bud wood testing before the movement of citrus germplasm to different citrus-growing regions in the United States. We have developed a citrus pathogen testing array capable of analyzing plant extracts for the presence of 26 common pathogens. The qPCR-based array can be completed in 90 minutes for the detection of 26 pathogens. We have confirmed the array results using next-generation sequencing of transcripts from selected test plants. In addition, we have successfully used these tools to characterize pathogens in over 1000 trees including the inventory of positive control plants maintained at the Germplasm Repository, accessions held in quarantine as well as trees in the field in the Riverside Givuadan Citrus Variety Collection. The pathogen array is designed as a modular test; the primers and probes used for the detection of specific pathogens can be replaced by reagents for other pathogens relevant to the geographical area.