Shiheng An

Apr 11, 2024 | elifesciences.org | Songdou Zhang |Jiayun Li |Alexis Breen |Shiheng An

Citrus huanglongbing – a disease known as ‘citrus cancer’ because of the devastating effect it can have on citrus plants – is caused by a bacterium called Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas; Killiny, 2022). In Asia, this bacterium is primarily spread by a lice-like bug called Diaphorina citri. However, it is not possible to study CLas in the laboratory because efforts to culture it have been unsuccessful.