Over four billion American chestnut trees have been killed as a result of an introduced pathogen, the chestnut blight. But recently, thanks to science and the hard work of TACF and our partners, transgenic blight‐tolerant American chestnut trees have been developed. We plan to outcross transgenic trees to wild trees to diversify the blight-tolerant population for restoration. If approved, this would be the first instance where a transgenic approach has been used to restore a tree species that has been rendered functionally extinct.
Read the full report from Dr. Jared Westbrook, TACF’s Director of Science and other contributors at New Phytologist Trust.