FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS APPROACHES TO CITRUS IMPROVEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA GAINESVILLE

¹ Horticultural Sciences Department, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 32611,USA

Major emphasis is on the identification and characterization of genes involved in biotic and abiotic stress. For example, in Florida, as in many places where citrus is grown, occasional freezes devastate the citrus industry. However, citrus does cold acclimate and certain citrus relatives are quite cold hardy. Through the use of subtracted cDNA libraries and array hybridizations, it has been possible to identify genes that are up-regulated in response to cold acclimation. An example of a biotic stress is citrus blight, a disease of unknown etiology. A similar strategy using tissue from healthy and blighted plants has allowed the identification of genes that are up- and down-regulated in response to blight. Genes identified in such screens may be directly tested for citrus improvement via transformation.