Metabolic alterations in the nymphal instars of Diaphorina citri induced by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the putative pathogen of huanglongbing

PLoS One. 2018 Jan 25;13(1):e0191871. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0191871. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Currently, huanglongbing is the most damaging disease of citrus causing huge economic losses. The disease is caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). The pathogen is transmitted in a persistent propagative circulative manner within its vector, the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri. Exploring the metabolic alteration in the vector may lead to a better understanding of the nutritional needs of CLas and to designing an artificial medium for culturing the pathogen. It has been shown that the nymphal stages have a greater role in transmission mainly because they feed on plants more actively than adults. In this study, we carried out an untargeted comparative metabolomic analysis for healthy and CLas-infected 4th / 5th instar nymphs. The metabolic analysis was performed using trimethylsilylation and methyl chloroformate derivatization followed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Overall, the changes in the nymph metabolism due to the infection with CLas were more pronounced than in adults, as we previously published. Nymphs reared on CLas-infected Valencia sweet orange were higher in many metabolites, mainly those of the TCA cycle, C16 and C18 fatty acids, glucose, sucrose, L-proline, L-serine, pyroglutamic acid, saccharic acid, threonic acid and myo-inositol than those reared on healthy plants. In contrast, CLas-infected nymphs were lower in putrescine, glycine, L -phenylalanine, L -tyrosine, L -valine, and chiro-inositol. The information provided from this study may contribute in acceleration of the availability of CLas in culture and consequent screening of antibacterial compounds to discover a definitive solution for huanglongbing.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Carbohydrate Metabolism
  • Citric Acid Cycle
  • Citrus / microbiology*
  • Citrus / parasitology*
  • Fatty Acids / metabolism
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Hemiptera / metabolism*
  • Hemiptera / microbiology*
  • Hemiptera / pathogenicity
  • Insect Vectors / metabolism*
  • Insect Vectors / microbiology*
  • Insect Vectors / pathogenicity
  • Nymph / metabolism
  • Nymph / microbiology
  • Nymph / pathogenicity
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology*
  • Plant Diseases / parasitology*
  • Rhizobiaceae / pathogenicity*

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Fatty Acids

Grants and funding

This study was generously supported by the grant number 2016–70016–24824 from NIFA-USDA received by NK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.