Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417325
Research Project: Management and Biology of Arthropod Pests and Arthropod-borne Plant Pathogens

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Discovery of nodule-specific cysteine rich peptides that block psyllid acquisition of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus

Author
item IGWE, DAVID - Cornell University
item Higgins, Steven
item Coradetti, Samuel
item Ramsey, John
item Deblasio, Stacy
item Pitino, Marco
item Niedz, Randall
item Shatters, Robert - Bob
item FLEITES, LAURA - Cornell University
item Heck, Michelle

Submitted to: International Research Conference on Huanglongbing
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Nodule-specific cysteine-rich peptides (NCRs), encoded in the genome of the Mediterranean legume, Medicago truncatula Gaertn. (barrelclover) are known to regulate plant-microbe interactions. A subset of 183 were synthesized to identify NCRs with activity against the unculturable vascular pathogen associated with citrus greening disease, ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas). We evaluated the peptides in a screening pipeline involving three distinct assays: a bacterial culture assay, a CLas-infected excised citrus leaf assay, and an assay to evaluate effects on bacterial acquisition by the nymphal stage of hemipteran vector Diaphorina citri. A subset of NCRs inhibit both CLas growth in citrus leaves and CLas acquisition by D. citri. As no therapies or peptides currently exist to block CLas transmission by the insect vector, these findings reveal NCR peptides as a new class of plant-derived biopesticide molecules to control citrus greening disease.