Beginning in 1993, Florida’s citrus industry has been invaded by citrus leafminer (Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton, Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae), brown citrus aphid (Toxoptera citricida Kirkaldy, Homoptera: Aphididae), and the Asian citrus psylla (Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, Homoptera: Psyllidae). The source(s) of these pests remain unknown but other countries in the Caribbean, as well as Centra...

The interest has increased in the consumption of Citrus fruits, it is not only due to their sweet refreshing properties but also because of their other important properties like medicinal, antioxidant and nutritional values . Four different indigenous varieties of Citrus namely Citrus grandis var Robab, Citrus grandis var Khaloi, Citrus sinensis var Valencia, and Citrus sinensis var Sohniangria...

Citrus contain various flavonoids and alkaloids that have multiple biological activities. It is known that the immature Citrus contains larger amounts of bioactive components, than do the mature plants. Although Citrus flavonoids are well known for their biological activities, Citrus alkaloids have not previously been assessed. In this study, we identified synephrine alkaloids as an active comp...

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 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...

Most indigenous citrus varieties are assumed to be natural hybrids, but their parentage has so far been determined in only a few cases because of their wide genetic diversity and the low transferability of DNA markers. Here we infer the parentage of indigenous citrus varieties using simple sequence repeat and indel markers developed from various citrus genome sequence resources. Parentage tests...

The R2R3MYB proteins represent one of the largest families of transcription factors, which play important roles in plant growth and development. Although genome-wide analysis of this family has been conducted in many species, little is known about R2R3MYB genes in citrus, In this study, 101 R2R3MYB genes has been identified in the citrus (Citrus sinesis and Citrus clementina) genomes, which are...

Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri Kuwayama) transmits a bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) putatively responsible for a devastating citrus disease known as Asiatic huanglongbing (HLB) (citrus greening disease). The psyllid and disease have invaded many citrus-growing regions including the United States, where the disease is seriously jeopardizing the Florida citrus indust...

A method of multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed for the simultaneous detection of Citrus yellow mosaic virus (CYMV) and fastidious Citrus greening bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLa) in sweet orange trees. Initially total DNA from individual CLa and CYMV infected citrus plants were mixed and both pathogens were detected simultaneously by multiplex PCR. Subsequ...