Citrus as the Target

Regenerating rooted plant and plantlet

In citrus, the process of genetic engineering (cutting and pasting new information into the citrus genome) has been used experimentally to protect against citrus tristeza virus (CTV) and canker diseases, provide resistance to certain insects, create dwarf varieties and afford drought and salt tolerance. More recently, efforts have focused on inserting genes from one citrus variety into another in order to lower acidity, create blood orange color, increase disease resistance and lower levels of the chemical in grapefruit that interferes with statin drugs.