Screening nested-PCR primer for 'Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus' associated with citrus Huanglongbing and application in Hunan, China

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 22;14(2):e0212020. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0212020. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) is one of the most devastating citrus diseases worldwide. Sensitive and accurate assays are vital for efficient prevention of the spread of HLB-associated "Candidatus Liberibacter spp". "Candidatus Liberibacter spp" that infect Citrus includes "Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus" (Las), "Candidatus Liberibacter africanus" (Laf) and "Candidatus Liberibacter americanus" (Lam). Of them, Las is the most widespread species. In this study, a set of nested PCR primer pairs were screened to diagnose Las, and the nested PCR method greatly enhanced the sensitivity to detect Las up to 10 times and 100 times compared to qPCR and conventional PCR, respectively. Totally, 1112 samples from 5 different citrus cultivars in 39 different counties and cities were assayed by nested PCR. The results show that 384 samples were HLB-infected; the highest positive detection rate was 79.7% from the lopsided fruit samples, and the lowest positive detection rate was 16.3% from the apical dieback samples. The results indicate that the designed nested PCR primer pairs can detect Las from different symptomatic tissues, different citrus cultivars and different geographic regions. The set of nested PCR primers designed in the present study will provide a very useful supplementation to the current approaches for Las detection.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Citrus / microbiology*
  • DNA Primers / analysis*
  • DNA, Bacterial / genetics
  • Plant Diseases / microbiology
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Rhizobiaceae / classification
  • Rhizobiaceae / genetics
  • Rhizobiaceae / isolation & purification*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Species Specificity

Substances

  • DNA Primers
  • DNA, Bacterial

Grants and funding

The project was supported by National key Research and development project of China "Research and demonstration of prevention and control technology in central China citrus Huanglongbing interdiction belt and low epidemic areas (2018YFD 0201505) " and Hunan province key Research and development project:" Research and application of key technologies for green control of citrus pests and diseases (2018NK 2012)" Tuyong Yi received the first fund and Yanyun Hong received the second fund.