Agrotechnology

Simultaneous molecular detection of citrus mosaic virus and citrus greening bacterium by duplex PCR

2^nd International Conference on Agricultural & Horticultural Sciences

Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Hyderabad, India February 03-05, 2014

Kailash N. Gupta, V. K. Baranwal and K. Gopal

Accepted Abstracts: Agrotechnol

Abstract:

Citrus is an important fruit crop in India. It is grown in about 0.50 million ha with an annual production of 0.39 million tones. Citrus decline is a serious problem and has been attributed to many causes, e.g. Citrus tristeza virus, Indian Citrus ring spot virus, Citrus yellow mosaic virus (CYMV), Citrus exocortis viroid and the greening bacterium. The citrus greening bacterium, causing citrus greening disease (CGD), is one of the major factors for citrus decline. The incidence of the disease has ranged from 6-16% in different sweet orange orchards. Citrus yellow mosaic disease (CYMD) caused by CYMV is another important disease, which occurs more commonly in citrus plantations of south India. Both diseases are major constraints to the citrus production. A duplex PCR was developed for the simultaneous detection of Citrus mosaic badnavirus (CMBV) and citrus greening bacterium, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus ( Ca. L. asiaticus ) from sweet orange trees. Ca. L. asiaticus restricted to phloem region and can be detected from only the mid rib and petiole of the citrus leaves. On the other hand, CMBV spreads to the tissues of entire leaf lamina. Initially total DNA from individual Ca. L. aasiaticus and CMBV infected citrus plants were mixed and both pathogens were detected by PCR. Subsequently, both pathogens were detected from the total DNA obtained after mixing of mid rib of Ca. L. asiaticus infected and CMBV infected leaf lamina of the sweet orange. The final adopted multiplex PCR protocol simultaneously detected both pathogens from the total DNA extracted from the midrib of leaves field trees infected by both pathogens. The procedure is cost effective and sensitive and will be highly useful in quarantine certification program.

Biography :

Kailash N. Gupta has completed his Ph.D. at the age of 35 years from JMI, A Central University, New Delhi. He is the Assistant Professor cum Scientist of Plant Pathology in Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalaya, Jabalpur-482004, India. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed national and international journals and 25 abstracts, 10 technical bulletin and 25 popular article.