'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus', Causal Agent of Citrus Huanglongbing, Is Reduced by Treatment with Brassinosteroids

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 5;11(1):e0146223. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146223. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Huanglongbing (HLB) constitutes the most destructive disease of citrus worldwide, yet no established efficient management measures exist for it. Brassinosteroids, a family of plant steroidal compounds, are essential for plant growth, development and stress tolerance. As a possible control strategy for HLB, epibrassinolide was applied to as a foliar spray to citrus plants infected with the causal agent of HLB, 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus'. The bacterial titers were reduced after treatment with epibrassinolide under both greenhouse and field conditions but were stronger in the greenhouse. Known defense genes were induced in leaves by epibrassinolide. With the SuperSAGE technology combined with next generation sequencing, induction of genes known to be associated with defense response to bacteria and hormone transduction pathways were identified. The results demonstrate that epibrassinolide may provide a useful tool for the management of HLB.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Brassinosteroids / pharmacology*
  • Citrus / drug effects
  • Citrus / microbiology*
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology*
  • Plant Leaves / microbiology
  • Rhizobiaceae / drug effects*

Substances

  • Brassinosteroids

Grants and funding

The authors thank “Empresa Agroindustrial Victoria de Girón”, Cuba and the “Instituto de Investigaciones en Fruticultura Tropical”, Cuba, for providing all the support for the experiments. Work in J.D.W.’s lab was supported in part by Grant DE-FG02-91ER20021 to the Plant Research Laboratory from the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.