TY - JOUR
T1 - Peptide conjugated morpholinos for management of the huanglongbing pathosystem
AU - Sandoval-Mojica, Andrés F.
AU - Altman, Sidney
AU - Hunter, Wayne B.
AU - Pelz-Stelinski, Kirsten S.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank Paul Carr and Austin McGowan (UF) for maintenance of insect and cell cultures and other technical support for this project. In addition, we acknowledge Maria T. Gonzalez, Salvador Lopez and Jennifer Wildonger (USDA‐ARS, Fort Pierce, FL, USA) for technical support. This research was funded by the National Institute for Food & Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, ‘Targeting microbes to control Huanglongbing disease of citrus’ (award no. 2016‐70016‐24782).
Funding Information:
We would like to thank Paul Carr and Austin McGowan (UF) for maintenance of insect and cell cultures and other technical support for this project. In addition, we acknowledge Maria T. Gonzalez, Salvador Lopez and Jennifer Wildonger (USDA-ARS, Fort Pierce, FL, USA) for technical support. This research was funded by the National Institute for Food & Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, ?Targeting microbes to control Huanglongbing disease of citrus? (award no. 2016-70016-24782).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Society of Chemical Industry
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) is the causal agent of the devastating citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB) and is transmitted by the insect vector Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae). A potential approach for treating CLas infection is the use of synthetic nucleic acid-like oligomers to silence bacterial gene expression. Peptide conjugated morpholinos (PPMOs) targeting essential genes in CLas and the psyllid vector's endosymbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia (-Diaphorina, wDi), were evaluated using in vitro and in vivo assays. RESULTS: Expression of the wDi gyrA gene was significantly reduced following incubation of wDi cells with PPMOs. In addition, the viability of isolated wDi cells was greatly reduced when treated with PPMOs as compared to untreated cells. Feeding D. citri adults with a complementary PPMO (CLgyrA-14) showed significantly reduced (70% lower) expression of the CLas gyrA gene. CLas relative density was significantly lower in the psyllids fed with CLgyrA-14, when compared to untreated insects. Psyllids that were treated with CLgyrA-14 were less successful in transmitting the pathogen into uninfected plants, compared to untreated insects. CONCLUSION: The expression of essential genes in the D. citri symbiont, wDi and the HLB pathogen were suppressed in response to PPMO treatments. This study demonstrates the potential of PPMOs as a novel strategy for management of bacterial pathogens of fruit trees, such as HLB.
AB - BACKGROUND: ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) is the causal agent of the devastating citrus disease Huanglongbing (HLB) and is transmitted by the insect vector Diaphorina citri (Hemiptera: Liviidae). A potential approach for treating CLas infection is the use of synthetic nucleic acid-like oligomers to silence bacterial gene expression. Peptide conjugated morpholinos (PPMOs) targeting essential genes in CLas and the psyllid vector's endosymbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia (-Diaphorina, wDi), were evaluated using in vitro and in vivo assays. RESULTS: Expression of the wDi gyrA gene was significantly reduced following incubation of wDi cells with PPMOs. In addition, the viability of isolated wDi cells was greatly reduced when treated with PPMOs as compared to untreated cells. Feeding D. citri adults with a complementary PPMO (CLgyrA-14) showed significantly reduced (70% lower) expression of the CLas gyrA gene. CLas relative density was significantly lower in the psyllids fed with CLgyrA-14, when compared to untreated insects. Psyllids that were treated with CLgyrA-14 were less successful in transmitting the pathogen into uninfected plants, compared to untreated insects. CONCLUSION: The expression of essential genes in the D. citri symbiont, wDi and the HLB pathogen were suppressed in response to PPMO treatments. This study demonstrates the potential of PPMOs as a novel strategy for management of bacterial pathogens of fruit trees, such as HLB.
KW - Diaphorina citri
KW - HLB
KW - Wolbachia
KW - synthetic nucleic acid-like oligomer
KW - ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85085011537&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85085011537&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ps.5877
DO - 10.1002/ps.5877
M3 - Article
C2 - 32358830
AN - SCOPUS:85085011537
SN - 1526-498X
VL - 76
SP - 3217
EP - 3224
JO - Pest Management Science
JF - Pest Management Science
IS - 9
ER -