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nafex - Re: [nafex] Blight resistant American Chestnuts

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87@frontiernet.net>
  • To: mailing list at ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex] Blight resistant American Chestnuts
  • Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2014 08:39:31 -0500


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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