Team:FSU/Description

Project Inspiration and Description

Infected tree at Collier Farms dropping pre-mature, under-ripe fruit and with stunted growth.

With guidance from the 2018 FSU iGEM team, we set out to find a problem, need, or curiosity in the world that could be addressed with synthetic biology. Since most members of our team are Florida natives, the effects of citrus greening have been evident for a while. Through our research, we found that citrus greening resulted in a $2.9 billion loss in revenue for orange growers in Florida from 2007 to 2014^[1].

Florida is known for its abundance of beaches, voracious alligators, and sweet oranges. Since Citrus Greening affects our home state, we decided to focus on it. After visiting a citrus farm in Collier County and learning that the disease is prevalent in about 80% of their trees, we were more motivated to understand the problem and pursue a solution.

FSU iGEM Associate Team Lead Jacob Gottlieb (center) and Design Lead Juan-Martin Portilla (right) being led through the orange groves by Collier Farm executives in May 2019.

The Asian Citrus Psyllid is responsible for transporting HLB (C Liberibacter asiaticus) and infecting trees; This is the size of the psyllids compared to a human hand.

Our solution to the Citrus Greening epidemic is called FLOEMA. FLOEMA is a wetware, hardware, and software solution that will one day heal our ailing citrus trees. An overview of FLOEMA is depicted in the diagram below. FLOEMA is composed of: A Therapy Management Subsystem that provides citrus growers assistance on when and how much antimicrobial therapy should be provided to the citrus trees. FloRx, an injector-catheter device, that can be used to access a citrus tree's phloem and deliver the antimicrobial therapy. Finally, Antimicrobial Cocktails composed of three antimicrobial peptides that will eliminate Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus, the bacteria that is causing greening, and guard against the emergence of resistant strains.

All the members of the 2019 FSU iGEM team thank you for visiting our web site!

FLOEMA. 2019 FSU iGEM team's approach to solving Citrus Greening.

[1]: The Associated Press (2019). Report: Breakthrough On Devastating Citrus Disease Unlikely.