First Report of the Citrus Huanglongbing Associated Bacterium 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' from Sweet Orange, Mexican Lime, and Asian Citrus Psyllid in Belize.

The citrus industries of North and South America are endangered by Huanglongbing (HLB), also known as citrus greening, a devastating disease associated with 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' and 'Ca. L. americanus', two species of fastidious phloem-limited bacteria spread by the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, Kuwayama. The first reports of HLB from the Americas were from Brazil in 2004 followed by Florida in 2005 (3). The ACP was found in Belize in 2005 (S. Williams, personal communication) and is now present throughout Central America. On the basis of the report that the HLB-associated bacteria can be easily detected in the ACP vector (4), an initial sampling of ACP from 67 locations was collected in February 2009 from trees in the Belize, Corozal, Orange Walk, Stann Creek, and Toledo Districts of Belize, and shipped in 95% ethanol to Riverside, CA for analysis. DNA was extracted from lots containing three to five psyllids from each of the 67 samples with Fast DNA kits (MP Biomedicals, Solon, OH) and analyzed by multiplex qPCR for 'Ca. L. asiaticus' and 'Ca. L. americanus' with a Stratagene MX3005P thermocycler with primers and Taqman probes to detect the 16sRNA gene of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' or 'Ca. L. americanus' and a psyllid gene, wingless, as an internal control target (4). Nine of the sixty-seven psyllid extractions were clearly positive for 'Ca. L. asiaticus' with cycle threshold values of 24 to 29. 'Ca. L. americanus' was not detected in any of the samples. From the districts previously sampled for ACP, leaves and fruit peduncles were collected from Citrus sinensis and C. aurantifolia plants showing HLB symptoms of asymmetrical leaf mottle and lopsided fruit with aborted seeds. DNA extracted from 10 of the 12 plant samples with a Qiagen Plant DNeasy kit (Qiagen Inc., Valencia, CA) was positive for 'Ca. L. asiaticus' with the qPCR procedure of Li et al (3). The presence of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' in the positive plant and ACP samples was corroborated by amplification, cloning, and sequencing of a 1,168-bp region of the 16S rRNA gene (2) with SpeedSTAR HS DNA polymerase (TaKaRa Bio Inc., Shiga, Japan). Consensus sequences obtained from three clones each from psyllids (Accession No. GQ502291) and plants (Accession No. GU061003) showed >99% identity to corresponding regions of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' in GenBank. The presence of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' was further indicated by amplification of a 227-bp fragment from the same 10 positive plant samples using primers for the 'Ca. L. asiaticus' preprotein translocase subunit SecE gene (nucleotides 31418 to 31644 of the genomic DNA) (1). Presence of trees with HLB symptoms and the detection of the associated 'Ca. L. asiaticus' confirm the disease in the Cayo, Corozal, Stann Creek, and Toledo districts in Belize. Analyses of psyllids from limited surveys conducted from 2006 to 2008 had not detected 'Ca. L. asiaticus' or 'Ca. L. americanus'. Confirmation of HLB in Belize has significant implications to the citrus industries in Central America. References: (1) T. H. Hung et al. J. Phytopathol. 147:599, 1999. (2) S. Jagoueix et al. Mol. Cell. Probes 10:43, 1996. (3) W. Li et al. J. Microbiol. Methods 66:104, 2006. (4) K. L. Manjunath et al. Phytopathology 98:387, 2008.

Serological Detection of Citrus tristeza virus with Antibodies Developed to the Recombinant Coat Protein.

Antibodies specific for the recombinant coat protein (rCP) of the p25 gene of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) were developed in goats and rabbits and further evaluated as a complete kit for the detection of the virus using healthy and CTV-infected tissue. The combination of goat T1 used as primary (coating) and rabbit C3 as intermediate (detecting) rCP antibodies reacted efficiently, with optical density at 405 nm (OD405) values between 0.250 and 2.000 with samples from an international collection of diverse CTV isolates. The CTV isolates tested cause a broad spectrum of disease syndromes in different citrus hosts. The OD405 values for healthy tissue were less than 0.100. Likewise, the combination of goat T1 and rabbit C3 rCP antibodies gave consistent results for CTV-positive and -negative sample discrimination when directly compared with the Central California Tristeza Eradication Agency (CCTEA) antibodies used for large-scale CTV detection and a commercially available CTV serological detection kit. The combination of goat T1 and rabbit C3 rCP antibodies showed its suitability for large-scale indexing with samples collected in commercial groves as part of the CCTEA's regular monitoring program. The evaluation included 41,195 samples from 301 commercial groves from districts 1, 2, and 3. In total, 26 trees (0.063%) were found to be CTV positive using the T1/C3 rCP antibody combination. Results of this research provide evidence that rCP antibodies can be efficiently used for both capturing and detecting CTV antigens in double-antibody sandwich indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Detection of 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' in Diaphorina citri and its importance in the management of citrus huanglongbing in Florida.

Citrus huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening), is a highly destructive disease that has been spreading in both Florida and Brazil. Its psyllid vector, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, has spread to Texas and Mexico, thus threatening the future of citrus production elsewhere in mainland North America. Even though sensitive diagnostic methods have been developed for detection of the causal organisms, Candidatus Liberibacter spp., the pathogen cannot be detected consistently in plants until symptoms develop, presumably because of low titer and uneven distribution of the causal bacteria in nonsymptomatic tissues. In the present study, TaqMan based real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction methodology was developed for detection of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' in D. citri. Over 1,200 samples of psyllid adults and nymphs, collected from various locations in Florida, from visually healthy and HLB symptomatic trees at different times of the year were analyzed to monitor the incidence and spread of HLB. The results showed that spread of 'Ca. L. asiaticus' in an area may be detected one to several years before the development of HLB symptoms in plants. The study suggests that discount garden centers and retail nurseries may have played a significant role in the widespread distribution of psyllids and plants carrying HLB pathogens in Florida.

Assessment of sequence diversity in the 5'-terminal region of Citrus tristeza virus from India.

Twenty-one Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) isolates from India were characterized, using genotype-specific multiple molecular markers (MMM) from the 54'-terminal region and two other overlapping primer pairs (CN487/489 and CN488/491) from ORF1a (697-1484 nucleotides (nt)). The 5'-terminal genotype-specific primer pairs amplified about 500 bases from the 5'-end of the CTV genomic RNA (gRNA). With the three different MMM, the VT genotype-specific primers amplified 19 Indian CTV isolates. The T30-specific primers amplified five isolates, and the T36 primer amplified only one isolate T36. All isolates were amplified with CN488/491 primers; however, only 20 isolates were amplified with CN487/489 pair. A phylogenetic tree, derived from the sequences of the different MMM primer-amplified products, placed all the isolates into four distinct genogroups. Three of these four groups were typified by the reference isolates T30, T36, and VT. The fourth group, represented by the isolate BAN-2, was considered as a new genogroup. A phylogenetic tree based on sequences of the CN487/491 amplified products and other published sequences placed all of the isolates in eight genogroups. Phylogenetic correlation over the three different regions sequences of these CTV isolates showed more sequence variability between 1082 and 1484nt than between 1 and 500 or 697-1105 nt of the CTV gRNA. Based on three different 5' regions sequences and phylogenetic analysis, it is hypothesized that isolates BAN-1, BAN-2, and B165 are three naturally occurring variants that add to the complexity of the CTV populations in India.

Identification to the species level of the plant pathogens Phytophthora and Pythium by using unique sequences of the ITS1 region of ribosomal DNA as capture probes for PCR ELISA.

The ribosomal internal transcribed spacer 1 region was sequenced for 10 species of Pythium and eight species of Phytophthora. Alignment of the sequences revealed considerable sequence microheterogeneity, which was utilized to prepare a capture probe of unique sequence for each species. The capture probes were tested by PCR ELISA, combining the sensitivity and specificity of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The probes were entirely species specific, enabling the detection and identification of the amplified DNA of species from individual cultures or from mixed samples of the DNAs of two different species. This approach to species identification, which provides a molecular technology to process large numbers of samples and still identify the fungi with a high level of confidence, may greatly reduce the resources and the time of highly trained specialists currently needed to identify these important species of plant pathogenic fungi.

Full-length tobacco mosaic virus RNAs and defective RNAs have different 3' replication signals.

The viral replicase complex of positive-stranded RNA viruses interacts with cis-acting elements that are usually located at the termini of the viral RNAs. On comparison of the replication requirement of a tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-based defective RNA (dRNA) and its helper virus, we found different requirements for replication of TMV RNAs in cis and in trans. The level of replication of full-length TMV RNA decreased substantially in the absence of pseudoknot (pk) 1 and/or 2, whereas identical deletions in dRNAs did not affect their replication. However, pk3 was required for replication of both full-length TMV RNAs and dRNAs. The requirements for homologous sequences were greater for dRNA replication than for replication of full-length TMV RNAs. Defective RNAs with heterologous 3' nontranslated regions (NTRs) failed to be replicated or replicated minimally, whereas replication of similarly mutated full-length RNAs was much less affected. Increasing amounts of contiguous heterologous sequences in the dRNAs compensated for the impaired interactions between the replicase and 3' NTR. The precision requirement appeared to involve the terminal 28 nucleotides, specifically the pseudoknot in the aminoacyl acceptor arm of the tRNA like structure, which was important in replication of both dRNAs and full-length TMV RNAs.

Progress on strain differentiation of Citrus tristeza virus and its application to the epidemiology of citrus tristeza disease.

Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) occurs in most citrus producing regions of the world, and it is the most serious viral pathogen of citrus. With the recent establishment of the brown citrus aphid, Toxoptera citricida, its most efficient vector, on Madeira Island (Portugal) and in Florida (USA) and the countries of the Caribbean Basin, the impact of CTV is likely to increase in these regions. Since there are many strains of CTV and CTV infections frequently occur as mixtures of several strains, it is necessary to be able to distinguish the strains for regulatory purposes, disease management and epidemiology. We describe the evolution of techniques developed to detect CTV and to differentiate the individual strains, and present the results of tests using these latest methods on CTV isolates from mainland Portugal, Madeira Island and Florida. Mild and decline-inducing strains of CTV were detected in mainland Portugal and mild, decline-inducing and severe stem pitting strains on Madeira Island. In Florida we demonstrated the presence of infections that reacted with probes made against stem pitting strains not previously detected there. It is concluded that CTV presents a significant threat to citrus production in mainland Portugal, on Madeira Island and in the neighbouring countries of the Mediterranean Basin, as well as in Florida, elsewhere in the USA and throughout the Caribbean Basin, especially following the widespread establishment of T. citricida throughout the region.

Citrus psorosis virus: nucleotide sequencing of the coat protein gene and detection by hybridization and RT-PCR.

Citrus psorosis virus (CPV) is a multicomponent ssRNA virus with a coat protein of approximately 48 kDa. The viral genome is encapsidated in short and long particles that are readily separated by sucrose density-gradient centrifugation. CPV particles are spiral filaments that are referred to as spiroviruses (SV). A cDNA library of purified short particles from isolate CPV-4 was prepared in a Lambda vector and screened for expression of the coat protein gene (CPG) with a monoclonal antibody to the coat protein. Sequencing of immunopositive clones indicated a single ORF encoding a 49 kDa protein. This ORF, when expressed in E. coli, gave a protein identical in size and immunoreactivity to the CPV coat protein. A full-length clone of the CPG was transcribed and used in Northern hybridization assays to establish that short particle RNA of CPV is negative sense and contains the CPG. Moreover, the CPG was not found on RNA extracted from long particles or on the sedimentable dsRNA from CPV infected tissue. RT-PCR assays were developed for the amplification of a 600 bp fragment of CPG and for the complete CPG (1317 bp). The 600 bp fragment from a biologically and serologically different isolate, CPV-6, was cloned, sequenced and found to share 86% (nucleotide) and 96% (amino acid) identity with CPV-4. BLAST analysis of sequences from CPV-4 and CPV-6 detected no significant nucleic acid or protein similarity with any known viral sequences.

Molecular characterization of a structural epitope that is largely conserved among severe isolates of a plant virus.

Direct molecular evidence was obtained for the critical role of a single amino acid residue in a structural epitope distinguished by the monoclonal antibody MCA-13, which reacts selectively with severe isolates of citrus tristeza virus (CTV). Different CTV isolates cause a wide range of symptoms in the diverse citrus species they affect. Severe symptoms include decline, stem pitting, and seedling yellows. Plants infected by mild isolates are essentially symptomless. The monoclonal antibody MCA-13, which discriminates severe isolates from mild isolates of the virus, was used to map its epitope on the coat protein of CTV. A diverse group of coat protein genes of geographically and biologically distinct CTV isolates which are either MCA-13-reactive or MCA-13-nonreactive was cloned and sequenced. A series of mutant coat protein genes was constructed through oligonucleotide-directed, site-specific mutagenesis. The reactivity of the wild-type and mutant coat proteins expressed in Escherichia coli was evaluated by Western blotting using MCA-13 and polyclonal antibody prepared to CTV-coat protein. A single nucleotide alteration resulting in a Phe-->Tyr mutation at position 124 of the coat protein abolished the MCA-13 reactivity of a severe isolate, whereas a Tyr-->Phe mutation at the same site conferred MCA-13 reactivity on the coat protein of a previously nonreactive mild isolate of CTV.