The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, is an important pest of citrus worldwide not only due to the insect itself but the bacterial pathogen it transmits, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). CLas is associated with devastating Huanglongbing (HLB; a.k.a. citrus greening disease), which significantly reduces citrus yield, posing a serious threat to citrus industry. Currently, there is no cure for the disease, and the control of D. citri is one critical component of HLB management, which heavily relies on insecticides. Although applying insecticides is convenient, resistance develops rapidly and insecticides itself impacts ecosystems and human health. As such, alternative control methods to insecticides are needed. Here, we develop an assay to test acquisition and inoculation of CLas by D. citri. It can be used to screen genes involved in and/or compounds interfering with CLas acquisition and thus inoculation, which will assist with the development of new control methods for Huanglongbing.
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