Grant Information

OPTIMIZING HEAT TREATMENT IN THE FIELDS AND UNDERSTANDING THE MOLECULAR MECHANISM BEHIND THE SUCCESS OF THERMOTHERAPY FOR THE CONTROL OF CITRUS HLB

Sponsoring Institution Agricultural Research Service/USDA
Status ACTIVE
Funding Source USDA INHOUSE
Reporting Frequency Annual
Project Director DUAN Y
Accession Number 426700
Project Number 6034-22000-039-49R
Dates 2014-05-01 - 2016-04-30
Recipient Organization AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH SERVICE
219 SOUTH ROCK ROAD
FT PIERCE,FL 34945
Keywords citrus
greening
hlb
huanglongbing
rna-seq
thermotherapy
Research Effort Applied (30%)
Basic (60%)
Developmental (10%)
Classification Parameters
Knowledge AreaSubject of InvestigationField of SciencePercent
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 910 - Grapefruit 1040 - Molecular biology 25%
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 920 - Orange 1060 - Biology (whole systems) 25%
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 1114 - Peach 1040 - Molecular biology 10%
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 1122 - Strawberry 1060 - Biology (whole systems) 10%
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 1429 - Cucurbits, other (includes pumpkin, squash, gourd) 1040 - Molecular biology 10%
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 1460 - Tomato 1060 - Biology (whole systems) 10%
212 - Pathogens and Nematodes Affecting Plants 2110 - Ornamental trees and shrubs 1040 - Molecular biology 10%
Goals / Objectives
  1. To investigate the effect of heat stress on Las, associated prophages and those genes involved in the phage lytic cycle.
  2. To monitor healthy and HLB-affected citrus genome-wide response to heat stress. 3. Optimize field thermotherapy to produce a standard operating procedure.
Methods (unparsed)

Trees will exposed to heat. For obj. 1, leaves will be collected throughout the thermotherapy treatment. qPCR and RT-PCR will be used to determine if heat stress causes changes in Las phage. For obj. 2, RNA-seq will be used to determine how gene regulation in citrus is altered by heat stress. For obj. 3, a mathematical model will be developed to aid growers in determining the duration of heat treatment needed based on current within tent temperatures. Lastly, integrated approaches using chemicals that may be applied with heat treatment will be investigated.