Re: [nafex] Blight resistant American Chestnuts

On Nov 6, 2014, at 9:08 PM, Elizabeth Hilborn wrote:

> They are apparently transgenic with a wheat oxalate oxidase gene which renders the trees resistant to fungal-associated pathology. They make the point that these new trees have more American Chestnut genetic material than the complex hybrids such as Dunstan.

From the article:

> This gene doesn't hurt the fungus, but instead detoxifies the acid used by the fungus to attack the tree, essentially changing the fungus from a pathogen to a saprophyte that lives on the bark of the tree without causing significant harm.

So these trees will continue to host the fungus, thereby remaining a permanent locus for infection. In many parts of the country, the fungus seems to be persistent in any case; but I'm not sure that it's not an issue everywhere.

I wonder why they didn't take the resistance genes from the Chinese chestnut, instead of from a plant as distantly related as wheat? I don't know whether the Chinese chestnut genes allow the tree to continue hosting the fungus or not -- does anyone else?


-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 6A now I think
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale




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