Differential structure and physiological response to canker challenge between ‘Meiwa’ kumquat and ‘Newhall’ navel orange with contrasting resistance

Asiatic citrus canker caused by Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) is one of the most detrimental diseases affecting citrus production. ‘Meiwa’ kumquat (Fortunella crassifolia) and ‘Newhall’ navel orange (Citrus sinensis) are two genotypes with contrasting Xcc resistance. In the current study, efforts were made to perform pairwise comparison between them in terms of structural difference and biochemical response to Xcc attack. Pinprick inoculation demonstrated that ‘Meiwa’ had lower disease incidence rate and smaller lesion size, concurrent with significantly less bacterial number at the inoculation sites relative to ‘Newhall’. Microscopic observation demonstrated that stomatal density and size of ‘Meiwa’ were significantly smaller than ‘Newhall’. Stomatal apertures of ‘Meiwa’ were smaller than ‘Newhall’ measured at 2 h after their leaves were immersed in Xcc suspension, consistent with the bacteria number in the internal tissues counted at 4 d. Epicuticular wax content of ‘Meiwa’ was significantly higher than that of ‘Newhall’, while no difference in palisade and spongy tissue was observed between them. Enzymatic activity assay showed that after Xcc inoculation, ‘Meiwa’ exhibited significantly higher activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) in comparison with ‘Newhall’ at most of the sampling time points. Our data showed that the two genotypes with contrasting Xcc resistance exhibited clear difference in the structure and physiological response, which may provide information to facilitate our understanding of Xcc resistance.

Research highlights
► ‘Meiwa’ was more resistant to Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri than ‘Newhall’.
► ‘Meiwa’ had significantly smaller stomatal density/size and higher wax content.
► Fewer bacteria were detected in ‘Meiwa’ subjected to Xac infection.
► Activity of defence-related enzymes was higher in ‘Meiwa’ after Xac inoculation.