Home · Science · Sep 18 archive
Florida Citrus Growers Plant Gene-Edited Trees to Fight Greening Disease
Confirmed
In Short: Florida citrus growers are turning to gene-edited trees to combat the bacterial infection known as citrus greening.
Citrus growers in Florida are planting new trees that have been modified using gene-editing technology to ward off the lethal citrus greening disease, which has devastated the state's citrus industry.
The disease, spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, attacks the trees' immune system, making it impossible for them to fight the infection.
Before citrus greening arrived in Florida in the late 1990s, growers were shipping out around 300 million boxes of fruit each season, said Matt Joyner, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, a trade association that represents citrus growers.
Now, growers are waiting to see if the genetic modifications, which the Environmental Protection Agency approved earlier this year, will keep the trees alive.
Ron English's family ran a citrus business in Valrico, Fla., for generations until greening wiped it out, forcing them to close in 2015.
Soilcea, a Tampa-based company, used CRISPR gene-editing technology to design a rootstock that resists greening. Focusing on the rootstock to fight the bacteria is key, said Soilcea CEO Yianni Lagos.
What's confirmed
- A bacterial infection is wiping out Florida's citrus trees.
- Citrus growers in Florida are planting new trees that have been modified using gene-editing technology to ward against the lethal citrus greening disease.
- Now growers are waiting to see if the genetic modifications, which the Environmental Protection Agency approved earlier this year, will keep the trees alive.
- The disease is spread by a tiny winged insect called an Asian citrus psyllid.
- In the late 1990s, before citrus greening arrived in Florida, growers were shipping out around 300 million boxes of fruit each season, said Matt Joyner, CEO of Florida Citrus Mutual, a trade association that represents citrus growers.
- "See the discoloration, that's the disease already working through the tree," he said.
- It attacks the trees' immune system, so they can't fight the infection.
- Ron English's family ran a citrus business in Valrico, Fla., for generations until greening wiped it out, forcing them to close in 2015.
What's still developing
- Nothing material beyond the confirmed record.