APPLICATIONS OF BIOTECHNOLOGY TO CITRUS IMPROVEMENT IN SPAIN

Micropropagación in vitro de naranja agria (Citrus aurantium L.) a partir de segmentos nodales

La naranja agria (Citrus aurantium L.) presenta un alto valor nutricional y gastronómico en el distrito de Huacho, Lima, Perú, pero en la actualidad se considera una especie en peligro de desaparecer del distrito y alrededores por problemas fitosanitarios. Para la recuperación y repoblación de esta especie se planteó emplear técnicas biotecnológicas para la obtención de plantas libres de patógenos. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de la presente investigación fue micropropagar in vitro naranja agria a partir de segmentos nodales. Los segmentos nodales de naranja agria fueron desinfectados en diferentes concentraciones de NaClO, luego se introdijeron en medio de cultivo MS (Murashige y Skoog) adicionado con BAP, KIN y AG3 para la fase de multiplicación, posteriormente se transfirieron a medios MS adicionado con IBA y ANA para la fase de enraizamiento. La evaluación del porcentaje de contaminación se realizó a los diez días, la evaluación de formación de brotes en fase de multiplicación se realizó a los 30 días y la evaluación de enraizamiento a los 30 días. En la fase de desinfección y establecimiento in vitro se logró obtener 0% de contaminación y 0% de oxidación de los explantes. En la fase de multiplicación in vitro los mejores resultados se obtuvieron en el medio de cultivo M8 generando 4,7 brotes por explante. Y finalmente en la fase de enraizamiento el medio E4 permitió obtener 94,7% de explantes enraizados, 23,4 mm de longitud de raíz y 2,2 raíces por explante.

Novel Plastid-Nuclear Genome Combinations Enhance Resistance to Citrus Canker in Cybrid Grapefruit

Host disease resistance is the most desirable strategy for control of citrus canker, a disease caused by a gram-negative bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri. However, no resistant commercial citrus cultivar has been identified. Cybridization, a somatic hybridization approach that combines the organelle and nuclear genomes from different species, was used to create cybrids between citrus canker resistant 'Meiwa' kumquat (Fortunella crassifolia Swingle snym. Citrus japonica Thunb.) and susceptible grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Macfad) cultivars. From these fusions, cybrids with grapefruit nucleus, kumquat mitochondria and kumquat chloroplasts and cybrids with grapefruit nucleus, kumquat mitochondria and grapefruit chloroplasts were generated. These cybrids showed a range of citrus canker response, but all cybrids with kumquat chloroplasts had a significantly lower number of lesions and lower Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri populations than the grapefruit controls. Cybrids with grapefruit chloroplasts had a significantly higher number of lesions than those with kumquat chloroplasts. To understand the role of chloroplasts in the cybrid disease defense, quantitative PCR was performed on both cybrid types and their parents to examine changes in gene expression during Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri infection. The results revealed chloroplast influences on nuclear gene expression, since isonuclear cybrids and 'Marsh' grapefruit had different gene expression profiles. In addition, only genotypes with kumquat chloroplasts showed an early up-regulation of reactive oxygen species genes upon Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri infection. These cybrids have the potential to enhance citrus canker resistance in commercial grapefruit orchards. They also serve as models for understanding the contribution of chloroplasts to plant disease response and raise the question of whether other alien chloroplast genotypes would condition similar results.

Somatic Embryogenesis: Still a Relevant Technique in Citrus Improvement

The genus Citrus contains numerous fresh and processed fruit cultivars that are economically important worldwide. New cultivars are needed to battle industry threatening diseases and to create new marketing opportunities. Citrus improvement by conventional methods alone has many limitations that can be overcome by applications of emerging biotechnologies, generally requiring cell to plant regeneration. Many citrus genotypes are amenable to somatic embryogenesis, which became a key regeneration pathway in many experimental approaches to cultivar improvement. This chapter provides a brief history of plant somatic embryogenesis with focus on citrus, followed by a discussion of proven applications in biotechnology-facilitated citrus improvement techniques, such as somatic hybridization, somatic cybridization, genetic transformation, and the exploitation of somaclonal variation. Finally, two important new protocols that feature plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis are provided: protoplast transformation and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of embryogenic cell suspension cultures.

Pollen-pistil interactions and early fruiting in parthenocarpic citrus

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

An intense pollen-pistil interaction precedes fertilization. This interaction is of particular relevance in agronomically important species where seeds or fruits are the edible part. Over time some agronomically species have been selected for the ability to produce fruit without seeds. While this phenomenon is critical for commercial production in some species, very little is known about the events behind the production of seedless fruit. In this work, the relationship between pollen-pistil interaction and the onset of fruiting was investigated in citrus mandarin.

METHODS

Pistils were sequentially examined in hand-pollinated flowers paying attention to pollen-tube behaviour, and to cytochemical changes along the pollen-tube pathway. To evaluate which of these changes were induced by pollination/fertilization and which were developmentally regulated, pollinated and unpollinated pistils were compared. Also the onset of fruiting was timed and changes in the ovary examined.

KEY RESULTS

Conspicuous changes occurred in the pistil along the pollen-tube pathway, which took place in a basipetal way encompassing the timing of pollen-tube growth. However, these changes appear to be developmentally regulated as they happened in the same way and at the same time in unpollinated flowers. Moreover, the onset of fruiting occurred prior to fertilization and the very same changes could be observed in unpollinated flowers.

CONCLUSIONS

Pollen-pistil interaction in citrus showed similarities with unrelated species and families belonging to other taxa. The uncoupling of the reproductive and fruiting processes accounts for the parthenocarpic ability of unpollinated flowers to produce fruit in citrus. However, the maintenance of a functional reproductive process reflects the potential to produce seeded fruits, providing a basis for the understanding of the production of seeded or unseeded fruits and further understanding of the process of parthenocarpy in other species.

Immature embryo rescue and culture

Embryo culture techniques have many significant applications in plant breeding, as well as basic studies in physiology and biochemistry. Immature embryo rescue and culture is a particularly attractive technique for recovering plants from sexual crosses where the majority of embryos cannot survive in vivo or become dormant for long periods of time. Overcoming embryo inviability is the most common reason for the application of embryo rescue techniques. Recently, fruit breeding programs have greatly increased the interest in exploiting interploid hybridization to combine desirable genetic traits of complementary parents at the triploid level for the purpose of developing improved seedless fruits. However, the success of this approach has only been reported in limited number of species due to various crossing barriers and embryo abortion at very early stages. Thus, immature embryo rescue provides an alternative means to recover triploid hybrids, which usually fail to completely develop in vivo. This chapter will provide a brief discussion of the utilization of interploid crosses between a monoembryonic diploid female with an allotetraploid male in a citrus cultivar improvement program, featuring a clear and comprehensive illustration of successful protocols for immature embryo rescue and culture. The protocols will cover the complete process from embryo excision to recovered plant in the greenhouse and can easily be adapted to other plant commodities. Factors affecting the success and failure of immature embryo rescue to recover triploid progeny from interploid crosses will be discussed.

Citrus biotechnology: Achievements, limitations and future directions

Citrus is one of the most important commercial and nutritional fruit crops in the world, hence it needs to be improved to cater to the diverse needs of consumers and crop breeders. Genetic manipulation through conventional techniques in this genus is invariably a difficult task for plant breeders as it poses various biological limitations comprising long juvenile period, high heterozygosity, sexual incompatibility, nucellar polyembryony and large plant size that greatly hinder cultivar improvement. Hence, several attempts were made to improve Citrus sps. by using various in vitro techniques. Citrus sps are widely known for their recalcitrance to transformation and subsequent rooting, but constant research has led to the establishment of improved protocols to ensure the production of uniformly transformed plants, albeit with relatively low efficiency, depending upon the genotype. Genetic modification through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation has emerged as an important tool for introducing agronomically important genes into Citrus sps. Somatic hybridization has been applied to overcome self and cross-incompatibility barriers and generated inter-specific and inter-generic hybrids. Encouraging results have been achieved through transgenics for resistance against viruses and bacteria, thereby augmenting the yield and quality of the fruit. Now, when major transformation and regeneration protocols have sufficiently been standardized for important cultivars, ongoing citrus research focuses mainly on incorporating such genes in citrus genotypes that can combat different biotic and abiotic stresses. This review summarizes the advances made so far in Citrus biotechnology, and suggests some future directions of research in this fruit crop.