New findings about how ‘greening’ disease wreaks havoc
Huonglongbing, or citrus greening, threatens to destroy the US citrus industry, whose fresh fruit alone was valued at more than $3.4 billion in 2012. The new findings offer hope for developing diagnostic tests and treatments for the disease, which is currently incurable.
“Florida is seemingly in the death grip of citrus greening, and many experts believe it is just a matter of time before the disease appears full force in California,” says lead author Abhaya Dandekar, a plant molecular biologist at University of California, Davis.
The new findings indicate that the bacterial disease interferes with starch and sugar metabolism in young and mature leaves and fruit, while also wreaking havoc with hormonal networks that are key to the trees’ ability to fend off infections. Study results are published in the journal PLoS One.
Click here to read more at futurity.org.
