Abstract
Key message
Expression of synthesized cecropin B genes in the citrus phloem, where Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus resides, significantly decreased host susceptibility to Huanglongbing.
Abstract
Huanglongbing (HLB), associated with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria, is the most destructive disease of citrus worldwide. All of the commercial sweet orange cultivars lack resistance to this disease. The cationic lytic peptide cecropin B, isolated from the Chinese tasar moth (Antheraea pernyi), has been shown to effectively eliminate bacteria. In this study, we demonstrated that transgenic citrus (Citrus sinensis Osbeck) expressing the cecropin B gene specifically in the phloem had a decreased susceptibility to HLB. Three plant codon-optimized synthetic cecropin B genes, which were designed to secrete the cecropin B peptide into three specific sites, the extracellular space, the cytoplasm, and the endoplasmic reticulum, were constructed. Under the control of the selected phloem-specific promoter GRP1.8, these constructs were transferred into the citrus genome. All of the cecropin B genes were efficiently expressed in the phloem of transgenic plants. Over more than a year of evaluation, the transgenic lines exhibited reduced disease severity. Bacterial populations in transgenic lines were significantly lower than in the controls. Two lines, in which bacterial populations were significantly lower than in others, showed no visible symptoms. Thus, we demonstrated the potential application of the phloem-specific expression of an antimicrobial peptide gene to protect citrus plants from HLB.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (31272150, to XZ), the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-27, to SC), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2012B023, to XZ).
Author contributions
XZ designed the experiments, constructed the vectors, and wrote the manuscript. LX and AP performed the citrus genetic transformations. XJ evaluated the resistance to HLB. TL and YH performed molecular analyses. LY performed the Southern blot analysis. SC analyzed the data. All of the authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Zou, X., Jiang, X., Xu, L. et al. Transgenic citrus expressing synthesized cecropin B genes in the phloem exhibits decreased susceptibility to Huanglongbing. Plant Mol Biol 93, 341–353 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-016-0565-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-016-0565-5