Chemical evaluation of the pathogen-host interaction of Huanglongbing disease

Abstract

The main concern of the citrus industry worldwide is the disease known as Huanglongbing, which has caused great economic losses in citrus groves around the world. In Brazil and the United States, this disease is caused mainly by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and it is transmitted by the psyllid Diaphorina citri. The various problems generated by this disease arise from the fact that the mechanisms of infection of the bacterium are not fully known, as it has not yet been possible to perform its in vitro culture. In addition, HLB has an asymptomatic and symptomatic phase, which makes the detection of trees affected by the disease very difficult. HLB has brought great economic losses to the global citrus industry and, currently, remains without cure, being only possible its partial control through the eradication of contaminated orchards or the use of insecticides to control the vector. Therefore, it is necessary to search for an efficient and less aggressive control strategy of this disease. Studies have indicated that trees affected by the disease show an increase in the production of long-chain fatty acids compared to healthy trees, which may indicate that these compounds play an important role in the CLas-citrus interaction. Therefore, this project aims to study the role of long-chain fatty acids in the pathogen-host interaction in HLB disease. (AU)