Researchers closer to curing citrus canker

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Researchers in Florida are a step closer to finding a possible cure for citrus canker.

Scientists at the Institute of Food and Ag Sciences at the University of Florida have identified a gene that makes citrus trees susceptible to the bacterial pathogen.

Citrus canker is a highly contagious plant disease and spreads rapidly by wind, rain, and irrigation.

In Florida, the last extensive canker outbreak was in 1995 and cost the state’s citrus industry more than a billion dollars.