Project Grant 20217002936056

CITRUS GREENING OR HUANGLONGBING (HLB) DISEASE, CAUSED BY CANDIDATUS LIBERIBACTER ASIATICUS (CLAS) IN THE U.S. IS THE MOST DEVASTATING CITRUS DISEASE TODAY, AND HAS INVADED ALL PRODUCTION AREAS IN THE U.S. DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE AND PRACTICAL (FIELD DEPLOYABLE AND COMMERCIALLY VIABLE) HLB CONTROL STRATEGIES IS CRITICAL FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE U.S. CITRUS INDUSTRY. IN THIS CAP, BY LEVERAGING PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN STATE AGENCIES, UNIVERSITIES, USDA-ARS, REGULATORY AFFAIRS CONSULTANTS, AND THE CITRUS INDUSTRY, WE WILL PURSUE ADVANCED TESTING AND COMMERCIALIZATION OF PROMISING HLB THERAPIES AND EXTEND OUTCOMES TO STAKEHOLDERS. THEGOAL IS TO FIND ONE OR MORE EFFECTIVE THERAPIES TO KILL CLAS AND CONTROL HLB. FOR THIS, WE WILL UTILIZE HIGH THROUGHPUT AND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS CLAS-CITRUS HAIRY ROOT SYSTEM TO SCREEN POTENT ANTI-CLAS PEPTIDES AND SMALL MOLECULES, FOLLOWED BY RIGOROUS MULTI-LOCATION, MULTI-YEAR FIELD EVALUATIONS OF THE THERAPIES AND DELIVERY SYSTEMS.PROMISING THERAPIES WILL BE MOVED INTO A COMMERCIALIZATION PIPELINE FOR REGULATORY APPROVALS. ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY STUDIES WILL BE CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT OF BENEFITS TO THE CITRUS GROWERSAND A MULTI-STATE EXTENSION AND OUTREACH TEAM WILL USE DIVERSE MULTI-MEDIA OUTLETS TO DISSEMINATE PROJECT INFORMATION TO THE STAKEHOLDERS.