Talk:Citrus vein phloem degeneration

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On the American Phytopathological Society website there is a photo described as: "Mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata Blanco) with symptoms of yellow shoot and citrus greening, caused by Candidatus Linberobacter (sic) asiaticum, which is vectored by the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri." Note that the causative organism is not Serratia marcescens (an organism that is not very fastidious), but by an organism that has not yet been cultured. The correct spelling of the organism's genus is Liberobacter. Webpage URL: http://www.apsnet.org/online/archive/1999/iw00006.htm

The introduction of this error by MPulier seems inexcusable to me, since I can guess how it occurred. I was involved in a publication chasing down the pathogen of a vine decline in cucurbits. The initial guess was that the citrus greening organism might be involved. The tests proved that though a bacterium was involved, it was not the citrus greening organism. Rather, it turned out to be Serratia marcescens. I suspect that sloppy reading of the article (Avila et al. 1998. Phytopathology 88:428) led to the error.

Actually the correct name is Liberibacter (not Liberobacter). As of February 2007 this Gram negative alpha-proteobacteria has not been cultured or sequenced. Koch's postulates have not been completed on this disease so there is no definite proof that Liberibacter species are responsible for citrus greening.

Citrus greening or Huanglongbing is widely recognised as being caused by Candidatus, identifying the pathogen otherwise is misleading. 155.205.201.11 02:11, 4 April 2007 (UTC)