Savranlar, T. Ertekin, M. F. ?nci). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily of their institutions or sources of support.AcknowledgmentsThe authors wish to thank Professor Dr. Erdo?an selleck chem Unur, Professor Dr. Kenan Aycan, Prof. Dr Harun Ulger, Halil ?brahim ?elik and Sibel Erciyes for their skillful technical assistance.
The Asiatic citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), is widely distributed in the Oriental realm [1]. D. citri achieved major pest status when it was identified as the vector of Huanglongbing (HLB) or citrus greening disease (CGD) caused by Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (��-Protobacteria) [2] in Asia [3�C8]. The distribution of D. citri is wider than that of the citrus greening bacterium, the major pathogen which transmits D.

citri is very prolific and efficient vector of HLB [9], and its activity is the key to HLB spread. HLB is one of the most serious and devastating disease of citriculture in the world [7, 8, 10, 11], having destroyed around 50 million citrus trees since it was observed in China by Reinking [12], with most of these losses occurring in Southeast Asia [13]. HLB is currently found in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea; Japan and other major citrus growing areas in South Africa, USA, India, Pakistan, and Reunion Island, Brazil [14�C20]. It is the greatest hindrance to the commercial development of viable citrus industries in tropical and subtropical Asia [21]. As a consequence, the income of farmers and national economies are seriously affected.

In Malaysia, D. citri was first recorded in Ringlet, Cameron Highland and Ulu Tiram, Johor in 1978 [22], and symptoms of HLB were first noticed in Malaysia in the 1970s [23, 24], and its presence was confirmed in 1989 [25]. HLB together with its vector is now widely distributed in the lowlands and has been recorded in many parts of the country [26]. It has spread rapidly and gained national importance owing to the dramatic spread and transmission of HLB between 1989 and 1992 in Malaysia, which devastated citrus orchards in Peninsular and East Malaysia, including Sarawak [26, 27]. The once flourishing citrus industry in the Samarahan Division of Southwest Sarawak in Malaysia was completely destroyed by HLB in 1992 [27].

By 1991, the disease had destroyed a total area of 1,143ha with more than 309,500 trees resulting in an estimated yield loss of more than 6,500 metric tons of fruit and an economic loss of RM 6.5 million [27, 28]. HLB and its vectors pose a major threat to the Malaysian citrus and nursery industries, Drug_discovery especially in citrus rehabilitation. Furthermore, HLB is a highly destructive and fastidious disease of citrus. It is the primary cause of losses in citrus production in Asia [14], South Africa, and USA [20], and there is no successful treatment of infected trees.