GMOs may hold the key: Researchers say transgenic trees could combat citrus greening

摘要

Slow progress in Florida is being made that some feel may be the most effective means of combating the dreaded citrus greening disease—genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Like thousands of Florida growers,Southern Gardens Citrus in Clewiston, which once had 2.5 million citrus trees that primarily produce juice oranges, chopped down hundreds of thousands of trees—about 25 percent of its plantings. It also sprayed a variety of pesticides in an attempt to slow the disease, all to no avail.Then, when a worldwide search failed to find a tree that was immune to the disease or the Asian citrus psyllid that spreads it, president Rick Kress decided transgenics/GMOs may be the answer.