Orange, grapefruit, lemon and lime orchards are being wiped out across Florida from a plague called citrus greening disease. A team of scientists from Washington State University in Pullman is studying the bacterium that causes the condition. They hope to find a cure.
David Gang, a biological chemist at Washington State University, said the bacterium that causes greening disease is transmitted by a psyllid, a winged insect about half the size of a fruit fly, which spreads it from tree to tree.
When the bacteria get into a tree’s vascular system, it clogs it up, preventing the flow of nutrients.
“It eventually causes the roots to start to die. And then eventually the tree just dies,” said Gang.
According to Gang, Florida is in danger of losing its citrus industry.
“Yes, seriously. It’s very possible that in five years it will mostly be gone, if something isn’t done to fight it,” said Gang.
When a citrus tree is infected, the fruit on the branches stays green and never ripens, which is how the disease got its name. To figure out a cure, scientists need to be able to culture the bacterium.
This requires growing it in a petri dish and making it regenerate. This would allow scientists to study it and figure out what could make the bacterium die without killing a tree. So far, no one has been able to grow the bacterium in a lab. Gang and his team of researchers hopes to be the first.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is giving the Washington State University researchers more than $2 million to try and solve this puzzle.
In Florida, citrus greening disease has caused a 75 percent drop in citrus production since 2001.
The disease has spread to Texas and California.
