Nutrient and Transcriptome Analyses of Citrus Plants with Distinct Performances in Response to Huanglongbing

作者：Connor G. Hendrich, Jin Xu, Jinyun Li, Nian Wang · 发表于：Phytopathology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1094/phyto-03-25-0088-r · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Phytoplasmas and Hemiptera pathogens、Banana Cultivation and Research、Entomopathogenic Microorganisms in Pest Control

Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), caused by ‘ Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’, is currently the most devastating citrus disease worldwide. Interestingly, citrus groves with different performances, good production with lower HLB symptoms (good performance) and poor production with severe HLB symptoms (poor performance), have been observed. Here, we investigated the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. We analyzed 14 sweet orange groves consisting of seven good performance and seven poor performance groves. We analyzed the nutrient contents of approximately 1-year-old asymptomatic leaf tissue, root tissue, and soil samples. Higher concentrations of Mg, P, or S were observed in leaves of good performance groves than in those of poor performance groves. In roots, higher concentrations of N, S, and Mn and lower concentrations of K and Zn were observed in good performance groves than in poor performance groves. Higher concentration of soil organic matter was observed in good performance groves than in poor ones. Our data suggest that good performance groves have better uptake of nutrients than poor performance groves. We also conducted an RNA sequencing analysis of bark tissues of branches with (GS) or without (GA) HLB symptoms from a good performance grove and branches with HLB symptoms (PS) from a poor performance grove. Most differentially expressed NLR, RLCK, and CNGC genes ( P < 0.05) were downregulated in GA but upregulated in GS and PS, indicating induced immune response in...