If you grow citrus in Florida, you’ve probably heard the term CRISPR used in discussions about gene editing to find HLB resistance. CRISPR is complicated science but holds great promise in fighting both human and plant diseases.

At the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS), Nian Wang, a professor of microbiology and cell science, has been developing CRISPR citrus trees that hopefully will deliver HLB resistance.

During the latest episode of All In For Citrus podcast, Michael Rogers, director of the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, has an extended conversation with Wang about his work with CRISPR and gene editing.

Rogers and Wang break down the science of gene editing and discuss the progress made toward finding tolerance or resistance to HLB. It has been a long process, but now potentially HLB-resistant trees have been grown out from a single cell into trees almost ready to be planted in a grove for testing in the real world.

Wang has been working with CRISPR in citrus since 2013. The first transgenic-free, gene-edited citrus plants were accomplished in 2022. The research team has been working with about 40 different targets that might have potential in resisting HLB. Because of the inability to culture the HLB bacterium, it has been harder to narrow down the target genes than it was for citrus canker. However, Wang believes there are seven or eight genes that hold promise in promoting HLB tolerance or resistance.

During the podcast, Wang goes into more detail about the process of taking a single cell in a petri dish to a citrus tree growing in a grove. Don’t miss the January episode of All In For Citrus to learn more about the pioneering science of CRISPR.

The podcast is a partnership between UF/IFAS and AgNet Media.