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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Plant Pathology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #234789
Title: First report of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus infecting citrus in the Dominican Republic

Author
item MATOS, LUIS - IDIAF, SANTO DOMINGO,DR
item Hilf, Mark
item COMEJO, JUAN - IDIAF, SANTO DOMINGO,DR

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2009
Publication Date: 4/1/2009
Citation: Matos, L., Hilf, M.E., Comejo, J. 2009. First report of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus infecting citrus in the Dominican Republic. Plant Disease. 93:668.

Interpretive Summary: Huanglungbing is a destructive disease of citrus caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. This manuscript describes the identification of this disease in citrus in the Dominican Republic for the first time.

Technical Abstract: Real-time and conventional PCR were used to amplify sequences from the 16S rDNA and the outer membrane protein (omp) gene from nucleic acid extracts from 16 citrus samples from the Dominican Republic which displayed symptoms of the huanglungbing disease caused by the bacterium Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. Five samples yielded DNA fragments of the expected size with both primer sets and sequence analysis and screening of a public database identified the sequences as most closely related (98-100%) to those of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the suspected causal agent of huanglungbing. This data is the first indicating the presence of Ca. Liberibacter candidatus in citrus in the Dominican Republic.