![]() TACF’s breeding program allows us to stack multiple blight resistance genes and increase the proportion of American chestnut genes in the resulting progeny. Scientists at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) discovered that a gene from wheat produces an enzyme, oxalate oxidase (OxO), which enhances blight tolerance significantly. ![]() We are using genomics to increase the speed and accuracy of selecting trees with the greatest tolerance to chestnut blight and root rot.ī2 –BiotechnologyThe core of our biotechnology program is transgenics. Moving forward, our breeding efforts are focused on further improving blight tolerance and incorporating resistance to Phytophthora cinnamomi, which causes a fatal root rot in chestnuts. Four generations later, our traditional breeding program has produced a genetically diverse population of American chestnut hybrids with improved blight tolerance from Chinese chestnuts ( Castanea mollissima). During the past 36 years, offspring from blight resistant hybrids have been bred with American chestnuts from across the species’ range. We call it 3BUR.ī1-Breeding Our traditional breeding program is carried out at our research farm in Meadowview, VA, and at more than 500 orchards planted, largely by volunteers and partners, across sixteen TACF chapters throughout the American chestnut’s native range. Our approach follows multiple pathways to create a disease tolerant and genetically diverse population of American chestnut that will be adaptable to broad and changing climate. We continue to improve the disease tolerance in our traditional breeding program, while embracing innovations which can integrate the mechanisms of disease tolerance at the molecular level. Based on new insights into the complex inheritance of blight resistance, TACF has charted a new course for our restoration program. Since our founding in 1983, the field of genomics and biotechnology has burgeoned in scope and affordability. Our species-saving strategy is a powerful combination of traditional breeding, biotechnology, and biocontrol. That is why The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is leading an unprecedented rescue mission. As reliable and productive as the American chestnut tree was, it cannot recover fast enough to sustain itself in the wild. Before the blight, it was an important food source for a wide variety of wildlife and a valuable cash crop for rural communities from Maine to Alabama. ![]() The American chestnut tree was a vital component of the eastern U.S. Human interference triggered the American chestnut’s demise - and now scientific innovation offers us the best chance to save it. During the past 100 years, chestnut blight ( Cryphonectria parasitica) and ink rot disease ( Phytophthora cinnamomi) decimated an estimated four billion American chestnut ( Castanea dentata) trees and brought the iconic species to the edge of extinction.
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