“CANDIDATUS LIBERIBACTER ASIATICUS” ASSOCIATED WITH CITRUS HUANGLONGBING INFECTS POLLEN SEED COAT AND ENDOSPERM OF PUMMELO IN CHINA
B.H. Lou, X.L. Zhao, Y.Q. Song, X.J. Bai, C.L. Deng, G.P. Chen
doi: 10.4454/JPP.FA.2012.072
Abstract:
“Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” (Las), one of the three known bacterial species associated with citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), is unevenly distributed in bark tissue, leaf midrib, roots, and different floral parts of infected citrus trees. In this study, 10 petal, 12 stamen, 12 pistil, 3 pollen, 20 seed hull, 20 seed coat and 20 endosperm samples were collected from HLB-infected Shatianyou pummelo trees [= Citrus maxima (Burm.) Merr. cv. Shatian Yu] in China and analyzed for the presence of Las. The bacterium was detected by conventional PCR using the Las-specific primer pair OI1/OI2c. Amplification products of the expected size (ca. 1100 bp) were obtained from 9 petal (90%), 11 stamen (91.7%), 12 pistil (100%), 2 pollen (66.7%), 18 seed coat (90%), 15 endosperm (75%) samples, but not from any of the seed hull samples. The sequence of a representative amplicon matched that of Las. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the presence of Las in pollen, seed coat and endosperm of pummelo in China.
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