No abstract

Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) has been threatening citrus production worldwide. In this study, a comparative proteomic approach was applied to understand the pathogenic process of HLB in affected sweet orange leaves. Using the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) technique, we identified 686 unique proteins in the mature leaves of both mock-inoculated and diseased 'Madam Vinous' sweet orange plants. Of the identified proteins, 20 and 10 were differentially expressed in leaves with and without symptoms of HLB (fold change > 2.5), respectively, compared with mock-inoculated controls. Most significantly, upregulated proteins were involved in stress/defense response, such as four miraculin-like proteins, chitinase, Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase and lipoxygenase. Microarray analysis also showed that stress-related genes were significantly upregulated at the transcriptional level. For example, remarkable upregulations of miraculin-like proteins and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase transcripts were observed. Moreover, the transcriptional patterns of miraculin-like protein 1 and Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase were examined at different stages of HLB disease development. Combined with the transcriptomic data, the proteomic data can provide an enhanced understanding of citrus stress/defense responses to HLB.

Although there are no known sources of genetic resistance, some Citrus spp. are reportedly tolerant to huanglongbing (HLB), presumably caused by 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'. Time-course transcriptional analysis of tolerant rough lemon (Citrus jambhiri) and susceptible sweet orange (C. sinensis) in response to 'Ca. L. asiaticus' infection showed more genes differentially expressed in HLB-affected rough lemon than sweet orange at early stages but substantially fewer at late time points, possibly a critical factor underlying differences in sensitivity to 'Ca. L. asiaticus'. Pathway analysis revealed that stress responses were distinctively modulated in rough lemon and sweet orange. Although microscopic changes (e.g., callose deposition in sieve elements and phloem cell collapse) were found in both infected species, remarkably, phloem transport activity in midribs of source leaves in rough lemon was much less affected by HLB than in sweet orange. The difference in phloem cell transport activities is also implicated in the differential sensitivity to HLB between the two species. The results potentially lead to identification of key genes and the genetic mechanism in rough lemon to restrain disease development and maintain (or recover) phloem transport activity. These potential candidate genes may be used for improving citrus tolerance (or even resistance) to HLB by genetic engineering.

Changes in carbohydrate metabolism in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis) infected with 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', a purported cause of citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), were investigated. Starch levels in HLB-infected leaves with and without symptoms increased 3AE1-and 7AE9-fold, respectively, compared to healthy controls. In symptomless leaves, sucrose and fructose accumulated significantly (P < 0AE05) in both midribs and lobes, and glucose only in the midribs (greater than fivefold); whereas maltose levels were reduced to 64AE6% and 86AE8% in the midribs and foliar lobes, respectively, of the values in healthy leaves. In leaves with symptoms, sucrose and glucose remained at high levels compared to healthy leaves, whilst no accumulation of fructose was observed; by contrast, the maltose content decreased to as low as 49AE6% of that in healthy leaves. Fourfold induction of cell-wall-bound invertase activity was detected in both types of leaves on diseased plants. Additionally, the expression profiles of starch breakdown genes suggested that the transcription of DPE2 and MEX1 was downregulated. Together with the reduction of maltose, it is suggested that the impairment of starch breakdown may contribute to the starch accumulation in infected leaves. The imbalance of carbohydrate partitioning and its relation to disease physiology are discussed.