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Periwinkle plants provide ammunition in the war on citrus greening

Date:
April 27, 2010
Source:
USDA/Agricultural Research Service
Summary:
Scientists have turned an ornamental plant into a tool for combating a bacterial disease that threatens the world's citrus crop.
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A team of scientists from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the University of Florida Indian River Research and Education Center have turned an ornamental plant into a tool for combating a bacterial disease that threatens the world's citrus crop.

Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) has proved to be an effective screening tool for treatments to control Huanglongbing (HLB), according to Yong-Ping Duan of the ARS U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory (USHRL) in Fort Pierce, Fla.

HLB, also known as citrus greening, is one of the most destructive diseases of citrus worldwide. Caused by three closely related species of bacteria, there is no known cure for HLB and no established effective treatments. It remains a threat not only to the citrus industry in Florida, where it was discovered in 2005, but to citrus nationwide. The search for controls has been hampered in part because infected citrus plants are difficult to regenerate and study.

Duan and his colleagues have found that periwinkle performs well as a stand-in for citrus, becoming quickly infected with HLB bacterium and responding well to antibiotic compounds tested to reduce infection. Duan's colleagues included William W. Turechek and Ed Stover, both at USHRL, and Mu- Qing Zhang, Lijuan Zhou and Charles A. Powell of the University of Florida Indian River Research and Education Center.

The researchers used HLB-infected lemon trees to infect periwinkle plants by way of dodder and then ran greenhouse experiments to find the optimal nutrient and soil treatments for regenerating periwinkle with high infection rates. They also soaked infected periwinkle cuttings in different chemical compounds and found that two of them performed well as potential HLB treatments.

The team published the results in the journal Phytopathology. Duan emphasized that the results are limited to greenhouse settings and that the chemical compounds, penicillin G sodium and biocide 2,2-dibromo-3-nitrilopropionamide (DBNPA), must still be evaluated in field trials and approved for use by regulatory agencies before commercial use is possible.


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Materials provided by USDA/Agricultural Research Service. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Muqing Zhang, Yongping Duan, Lijuan Zhou, William W. Turechek, Ed Stover, Charles A. Powell. Screening Molecules for Control of Citrus Huanglongbing Using an Optimized Regeneration System for 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'-Infected Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) Cuttings. Phytopathology, 2010; 100 (3): 239 DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-100-3-0239

Cite This Page:

USDA/Agricultural Research Service. "Periwinkle plants provide ammunition in the war on citrus greening." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 April 2010. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426105641.htm>.
USDA/Agricultural Research Service. (2010, April 27). Periwinkle plants provide ammunition in the war on citrus greening. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426105641.htm
USDA/Agricultural Research Service. "Periwinkle plants provide ammunition in the war on citrus greening." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100426105641.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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