New Citrus Greening (HLB) Rapid Molecular Test Kit & Service Now Available From Agdia
Header Image: Figure 1: Pair the new test with Agdia’s AmpliFire® Pro portable isothermal fluorometer (coming soon!)
20 June 2025, Elkhart: Agdia, Inc. is happy to announce the commercial launch of a field-deployable rapid molecular test kit on their AmplifyRP® XRT platform for onsite detection of Citrus greening disease (also known as Huanglongbing or HLB).
For growers interested in sending plant samples to Agdia, this product will also be used by their Testing Services diagnostic laboratory, where customers receive expert guidance on crop screening and rapid turnaround time of test results.
Citrus greening has caused severe disruption in the citrus industry. In the United States, citrus production in Florida alone has decreased by 75% since 2005, in large part due to the disease, along with a doubling of production costs. This has resulted in economic losses estimated to be over $1 billion.
While Agdia has offered an end-point molecular test used by citrus growers for detecting Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Las) for years, the new test kit detects all three causal agents of citrus greening in a real-time results format:
- Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Las) is currently the most widespread and impactful species. It is present in Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and various other oceanic islands.
- Candidatus Liberibacter americanus (Lam) has been detected in Brazil.
- Candidatus Liberibacter africanus (Laf) is present in Africa, several Indian ocean islands and parts of the Middle East.
Citrus greening is transmitted primarily from one tree to another by the Asian citrus psyllid (Diaphorina citri) and the African citrus psyllid (Trioza erytreae), although some reports indicate it can also be transmitted through the grafting process.
Symptoms of infection (see Figures 2 and 3) include blotchy mottling, chlorosis (yellowing) in new leaf growth, twig dieback, green fruit, bitter fruit and reduced fruit yield.
Each bacterium associated with citrus greening is phloem-limited, making accurate sampling technique crucial for accurate diagnosis.
About AmplifyRP®
Agdia’s new AmplifyRP® XRT assay for the detection of HLB is based on recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA). This technology promotes the rapid amplification and detection of nucleic acid targets, DNA or RNA, while maintaining a single operating temperature of 39–42 °C. AmplifyRP® products achieve sensitivity and specificity comparable to PCR, while having clear advantages over the lab-based technology. AmplifyRP® products do not require a nucleic acid purification step; crude sample extracts are prepared using a simple extraction buffer and tested directly. When paired with Agdia’s AmpliFire® Pro isothermal fluorometer (Figure 1, coming soon!), the AmplifyRP® system is a user-friendly tool that can be implemented in the field or the lab by personnel with limited experience in molecular diagnostics. Total assay time is less than 30 minutes when used with the AmpliFire® as a real-time assay.
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