Citrus Transformation Facility remains integral part of the efforts to combat HLB disease through production of transgenic Citrus plants

Citrus Transformation Facility remains integral part of the efforts to combat HLB disease through production of transgenic Citrus plants

Report Date: 07/06/2021
Project: 18-066C   Year: 2021
Category: Plant Improvement
Author: Vladimir Orbovic
Sponsor: Citrus Research and Development Foundation

 Juvenile Tissue Citrus Transformation Facility (JTCTF) completed second quarter of operation as an EBA unit. The lab is open for customers who need transgenic citrus material and are ready to pay for services based on the EBA price list.  At the same time, JTCTF still does work based on the research grants that were received in previous years. JTCTF resumed pre-COVID operation in regard to presence of work force in the lab well ahead of the date set by UF/CREC administration. However, one of the employees still works the night shift. There are still four employees on the roster although one of them has not worked since December because of unresolved immigration status.Within the first half of the 2021, JTCTF has charged clients for the work it performed as the EBA unit and multiple payment were successfully processed. The Business office staff at CREC helped in this process and made it work. As we receive more orders, the support from the business office in processing of payments will be very important.Between April and July, JTCTF accepted five new orders. Client are still mostly interested in transgenic Duncan grapefruit and Valencia sweet orange. Three of five placed orders were associated with the existing USDA grant, while two orders came from clients through EBA. The facility is still expecting the influx of orders that were going to be placed already based on the fact that JTCTF was designated as subcontractor on the research grants. Those orders are delayed because the work on those projects was also delayed due to COVID-19.The output of the JTCTF in the last 90 days was eight transgenic plants. Six plants were Duncan grapefruit, one was Hamlin orange, and the last one was Valencia orange. The number of transgenic shoots JTCTF produced within the last six months was big. However, those experiments were done for the proof of concept and transgenic shoots were not grafted and grown into plants. The output of the facility would have much been better if these plants were developed.   


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