Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB, or citrus greening disease) has caused over 90% production losses since it was first reported in Florida in 2005. The unknown pathogenicity of the causative pathogen CLas hinders the development of sustainable disease management. Thus, understanding citrus host response to CLas, particularly at initial infection stage, is important for early disease detection and effective long-term HLB management. In this study, transcriptomic and metabolomic studies were conducted in a 2-day-post-inoculation (dpi) window, between HLB-tolerant LB8-9 Sugar Belle ® mandarin-like hybrid (SB; Citrus reticulata) and HLB- sensitive Valencia sweet orange (VAL; C. sinensis). CLas inoculation treatments included two controls no asian citrus psyllid (ACP) and CLas-negative ACP, plus CLas-positive ACP. Data were collevted at four time points: 2-, 12-, 24-, and 48-hour-post-inoculation (hpi). The results reveal that SB indicates immediate transcriptomic-level response from 2 hpi, compared with the delayed response in VAL from 24 hpi. The initial CLas-responsive differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in SB are related to plant defense response to Gram-negative bacterium, kinase activity and protein-kinase derived complex. DEGs that are categorized in plant defense response to Gram-negative bacterium are mostly associated with the pectinesterase inhibitors (PEIs) family which primarily alters the localized pH of the cell wall and strengthens cell wall integrity. On metabolomic level, SB shows rapid and high flavonoid content accumulation that reduces CLas-triggered stress and counteracts the initial infection. In VAL, the low flavonoid content accumulation removes reactive oxygen species (ROS) less efficiently which leads to more stress and cell death. Further investigation and validation on the proposed pathway are needed to confirm the early stage transcriptomic and metabolomic response of citrus tolerance response to CLas infection.
