The citrus leafminer, Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), is an important pest of citrus that has spread around the world. The citrus leafminer invaded Florida in 1993 and rapidly colonized all citrus-growing areas. Despite the fact that the citrus leafminer has been studied extensively, gaps in our knowledge of its biology remain. One issue is how the citrus leafmine...

Citrus canker, caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc), is severely damaging to the global citrus industry. Targeted editing of host disease-susceptibility genes represents an interesting and potentially durable alternative in plant breeding for resistance. Here, we report improvement of citrus canker resistance through CRISPR/Cas9-targeted modification of the susceptibility gene CsLOB1 ...

Burrowing nematodes from Central America, Dominican Republic, Florida, Guadeloupe, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico were characterized for their ability to parasitize citrus, but citrus parasites were found only in Florida. Sequence tag sites originally amplified from a citrus-parasitic burrowing nematode were polymorphic among 37 burrowing nematode isolates and were not correlated with citrus parasitis...

Due to the rapid expansion of irrigated agriculture, efficient use of the limited water resources in arid and semi-arid regions is becoming more and more vital. However, water salinity is a major problem due to its negative influence on the yields of many crops. It reduces citrus trees’ growth and causes physiological disorders. Salt-stress lowers net CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance, and...

The aims of this work were principally two-fold: first, to show that cyclic voltammetry is a simple, cheap and practical method for determining antioxidants in citrus fruit juices; second, to evaluate vitamin C in four species of citrus fruits. Two are known world wide, the lemon, Citrus limon (L.) Burm.f., and the lime, Citrus aurantiifolia (Christm.) Swingle, and two are principally but not e...

Emerging devastating diseases, such as Huanglongbing (HLB) and citrus canker, have caused tremendous losses to the citrus industry worldwide. Genetic engineering is a powerful approach that could allow us to increase citrus resistance against these diseases. The key to the success of this approach relies on a thorough understanding of defense mechanisms of citrus. Studies of Arabidopsis and oth...

Modified Citrus Pectin Introduction Modified citrus pectin (MCP), also known as fractionated pectin, is a complex polysaccharide obtained from the peel and pulp of citrus fruits. Modified citrus pectin is rich in galactoside residues, giving it an affinity for certain types of cancer cells. Metastasis is one of the most life-threatening aspects of cancer and the lack of effective anti-metastati...

Citrus sudden death (CSD) has caused the death of approximately four million orange trees in a very important citrus region in Brazil. Although its etiology is still not completely clear, symptoms and distribution of affected plants indicate a viral disease. In a search for viruses associated with CSD, we have performed a comparative high-throughput sequencing analysis of the transcriptome and ...

The convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), is an important predator of soft-bodied insect pests in many regions of the United States, but generally uncommon in Florida citrus. Certain citrus producers in Florida recently initiated releases of commercially available H. convergens from California against the Asian citrus psyllid Diaphorina citr...

The mosquito repellent activity of phytochemical extracts from Peels of five citrus fruit species, Citrus sinensis, Citrus limonum,Citrus aurantifolia, Citrus reticulata and Citrus vitis, was investigated. The volatile phytochemical extracts were obtained from processed air-dried and powdered citrus fruit peels by Soxchlet extraction using Diethyl Ether as solvent. Five different concentrations...