Shi, J., Pagliaccia, D., Morgan, R., Qiao, Y., Pan, S., Vidalakis, G., and Ma, W. 2014. Novel diagnosis for citrus stubborn disease by detection of a Spiroplasma citri-secreted protein. Phytopathology 104:188-195. Citrus stubborn disease (CSD), first identified in California, is a widespread bacterial disease found in most arid citrus-producing regions in the United States and the Mediterranean Region. The disease is caused by Spiroplasma citri, an insect-transmitted and phloem-colonizing

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... ium. CSD causes significant tree damage resulting in loss of fruit production and quality. Detection of CSD is challenging due to low and fluctuating titer and sporadic distribution of the pathogen in infected trees. In this study, we report the development of a novel diagnostic method for CSD using an S. citri-secreted protein as the detection marker. Microbial pathogens secrete a variety of proteins during infection that can poten-