For those of us who enjoy growing citrus, especially, in Florida and California, this news might be interesting:
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Yes it’s great news. UCR released their statement about a month ago.
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Wow this is super fantastic. I was doing google searches on greening and everything I found appeared like after years of research we had nothing that would substantially help and it would still be another decade. Breeding new orange trees could take 50 years to replicate the taste, disease resistance, etc…
But this sounds like a real solution. So excited this may be coming out soon.
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They could just make gmo citrus of the current varieties, inserting the gene from finger lime
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Worst orange crop since WW2 and things are probably going to get worse…
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In consolidated form: the scientists identified what compounds make oranges taste like good oranges, located the gene which causes those expressions and now have a way to test the genetic material of new citrus against that genetic coding and get an earlier identification of whether it is a landrace to further consider.
"[T]he scientists re-assessed their approach. They decided that in addition to using data from analyses of juice-aroma compounds, they needed to get a better handle on the individual chemicals that give orange juice its characteristic flavor. And they did just that, identifying 26 total flavor compounds and seven chemicals called esters deemed essential to the desired flavor profile of orange juice.
That advance, in turn, enabled the team to pinpoint the esters’ master gene, CsAAT1, and make what’s known as a DNA marker for it—a tool that can be used to quickly check for the genetic presence of a desirable trait in germinated seeds versus observing its physical expression in 10- or 15-year-old mature plants.
“Breeders can use this DNA marker to screen seedlings for desired flavor profiles at an early stage,” explain Anne Plotto and Jinhe Bai, plant physiologists with the ARS Citrus and Other Subtropical Products Research Unit in Fort Pierce, Florida.
“By incorporating this gene into the genetic makeup of HLB-tolerant hybrids derived from Poncirus trifoliata and mandarin, or from many other possible crosses with the same objective, breeders can ensure that these new hybrids not only possess HLB tolerance but also maintain the characteristic sweet orange flavor.”"
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@Audi_o_phile
What you have read is publicity aimed at further grant awards. I am hopeful too, but they still have a long ways to go.
I don’t disagree in the least, but I did want to distill the contents of the article down to the important news so people wouldn’t have to click on a link until they felt that there was merit in doing so.