american chestnut blight resistant trees
The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) conducts basic and applied research to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) for reintroduction back into forest ecosystems within the native range of this species. Our Accomplishments. There have been two primary research approaches to restore chestnuts to the American forest: the use of hypovirulent strains and breeding. Hypovirulence research: In 1953, European chestnut (C. sativa) trees infected with blight were observed to be healing (Biraghi, 1953). It is estimated that between 3 and 4 billion American chestnut trees were destroyed in the first half of the 20th century by blight after its initial discovery in 1904. Very few mature specimens of the tree exist within its historical range, although many small shoots of the former live trees remain. American chestnut was eliminated from eastern forests as a dominant species by chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). Butternut is presently being extirpated, as butternut canker disease (Sirococcus clavigigenti-juglandacearum) spreads into northern populations. Explore further: Addition of a wheat gene increases the blight resistance of American chestnut trees. More information: Douglass F. Jacobs et al. Aboveground carbon biomass of plantation-grown American chestnut (Castanea dentata) in absence of blight, Forest Ecology and Management (2009). The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) conducts basic and applied research to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) for reintroduction back into forest ecosystems within the native range of this species. Learn More. Three prominent North American tree species, American chestnut [Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.], butternut (Juglans cinerea L.), and American elm (Ulmus americana L.) have been severely impacted by three exotic fungal diseases, chestnut blight [Cryphonectria parasitica (Murr.) Barr], butternut canker (Sirococcus clavigigenti-juglandacearum Nair, ... The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a large, monoecious deciduous tree of the beech family native to eastern North America. Before the species was devastated by the chestnut blight, a fungal disease, it was one of the most important forest trees throughout its range, and was considered the finest chestnut tree in the world. The species has a sad story to tell. Of the estimated four billion American chestnut trees that once grew from Maine to Georgia, only a remnant survive today. The species was nearly wiped out by chestnut blight, a devastating disease caused by the exotic fungal pathogen Cryphonectria parasitica. Powered by one gene from wheat, trees withstand attack by invasive fungus. 11/5/2014. Scientists at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) are growing the first American chestnut trees that can withstand the blight that virtually eliminated the once-dominant tree from the eastern United States.
Addition of a wheat gene increases the blight resistance of American chestnut trees.