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...