The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) has approved Southern Gardens Citrus' application for an Experimental Use Permit under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. The permit allows Southern Gardens to move forward in its development of the possible use of a spinach protein to help control the devastating citrus greening disease, or Huanglongbing (HLB).
Research conducted by plant pathologist Dr. Erik Mirkov at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center has resulted in the production of proteins that appear to provide effective control of citrus greening disease. The permit authorizes large scale tests of citrus plants with the protein derived from spinach, developed from Dr. Mirkov's patented discoveries.
For more, read the news release from the Texas A&M AgriLife website.
![US EPA Approves Wider Testing of Spinach Defenses Against Citrus Greening](/Images_upload/images/New Picture (8)(27).png)
Figure: Dr. Erik Mirkov reviews a Southern blot, part of the molecular biology research used to provide citrus trees with genetic defenses against citrus greening disease. (AgriLife Communications photo by Rod Santa Ana)
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