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      Coconut Lethal Yellowing Diseases: A Phytoplasma Threat to Palms of Global Economic and Social Significance

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          Abstract

          The recent discovery of Bogia coconut syndrome in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is the first report of a lethal yellowing disease (LYD) in Oceania. Numerous outbreaks of LYDs of coconut have been recorded in the Caribbean and Africa since the late Nineteenth century and have caused the death of millions of palms across several continents during the Twentieth century. Despite the severity of economic losses, it was only in the 1970s that the causes of LYDs were identified as phytoplasmas, a group of insect-transmitted bacteria associated with diseases in many other economically important crop species. Since the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, knowledge of LYDs epidemiology, ecology and vectors has grown rapidly. There is no economically viable treatment for LYDs and vector-based management is hampered by the fact that vectors have been positively identified in very few cases despite many attempted transmission trials. Some varieties and hybrids of coconut palm are known to be less susceptible to LYD but none are completely resistant. Optimal and current management of LYD is through strict quarantine, prompt detection and destruction of symptomatic palms, and replanting with less susceptible varieties or crop species. Advances in technology such as loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) for detection and tracking of phytoplasma DNA in plants and insects, remote sensing for identifying symptomatic palms, and the advent of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based tools for gene editing and plant breeding are likely to allow rapid progress in taxonomy as well as understanding and managing LYD phytoplasma pathosystems.

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          Most cited references149

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          Plant genome editing made easy: targeted mutagenesis in model and crop plants using the CRISPR/Cas system

          Targeted genome engineering (also known as genome editing) has emerged as an alternative to classical plant breeding and transgenic (GMO) methods to improve crop plants. Until recently, available tools for introducing site-specific double strand DNA breaks were restricted to zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and TAL effector nucleases (TALENs). However, these technologies have not been widely adopted by the plant research community due to complicated design and laborious assembly of specific DNA binding proteins for each target gene. Recently, an easier method has emerged based on the bacterial type II CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)/Cas (CRISPR-associated) immune system. The CRISPR/Cas system allows targeted cleavage of genomic DNA guided by a customizable small noncoding RNA, resulting in gene modifications by both non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homology-directed repair (HDR) mechanisms. In this review we summarize and discuss recent applications of the CRISPR/Cas technology in plants.
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            Insect vectors of phytoplasmas.

            Plant diseases caused by, or associated with, phytoplasmas occur in hundreds of commercial and native plants, causing minor to extensive damage. Insect vectors, primarily leafhoppers, planthoppers, and psyllids, have been identified for relatively few phytoplasma diseases, limiting the capacity of managers to make informed decisions to protect crops and endangered indigenous plants. In the past two decades our knowledge of insect vector-phytoplasma interactions has increased dramatically, allowing researchers to make more accurate predictions about the nature and epidemiology of phytoplasma diseases. These better-characterized systems also may provide clues to the identity of insect vectors of other phytoplasma-associated diseases. We review the literature addressing the ecology of insect vectors, phytoplasma-insect ecological and molecular interactions, vector movement and dispersal, and possible management strategies with an emphasis on research from the past 20 years.
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              Biodiversity: climate change and the ecologist.

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Plant Sci
                Front Plant Sci
                Front. Plant Sci.
                Frontiers in Plant Science
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1664-462X
                26 October 2016
                2016
                : 7
                : 1521
                Affiliations
                [1] 1State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, Fujain Agriculture and Forestry University Fuzhou, China
                [2] 2Institute of Applied Ecology, College of Plant Protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University Fuzhou, China
                [3] 3Graham Centre of Agricultural Innovation, Charles Sturt University Orange, NSW, Australia
                [4] 4Research and Innovation Division, Centre for Crop Health, Institute for Agriculture and the Environment, University of Southern Queensland Toowoomba, QLD, Australia
                [5] 5PNG Oil Palm Research Association Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
                [6] 6Formerly affiliated with the PNG Oil Palm Research Association Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
                Author notes

                Edited by: Alma Balestrazzi, University of Pavia, Italy

                Reviewed by: Fischer Anne, International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Kenya; Franco Faoro, Università di Milano, Italy

                *Correspondence: Gurr M. Geoff ggurr@ 123456csu.edu.au

                This article was submitted to Crop Science and Horticulture, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science

                †These authors have contributed equally to this work.

                Article
                10.3389/fpls.2016.01521
                5080360
                27833616
                d1638f8c-25a8-4dce-be05-27c327fdd280
                Copyright © 2016 Gurr, Johnson, Ash, Wilson, Ero, Pilotti, Dewhurst and You.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 14 May 2016
                : 26 September 2016
                Page count
                Figures: 2, Tables: 3, Equations: 0, References: 240, Pages: 21, Words: 19333
                Funding
                Funded by: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research 10.13039/501100000974
                Categories
                Plant Science
                Review

                Plant science & Botany
                phytoplasma,insect vector,plant pathology,phytosanitation,quarantine,host plant resistance,crispr,lamp

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