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Ad-Free Podcast: What Happened to the Transgenic American Chestnut ?
🕑 Added 2024-12-10 17:48:40 +0000 UTCWhat happened to the transgenic American Chestnut? In January of 2024 news broke out that a "lab error" had "compromised years of research" regarding the re-introduction of American Chestnuts into Eastern North American forests, this time with a simple 700 base-pair gene for blight-resistance inserted into the tree's genome. For those that don't know, an invasive fungus from Asia that was unintentionally introduced to North America devastated the entire population of American Chestnuts, rendering the species "functionally extinct". Within the last decade, however, through genetic engineering, the insertion of a single gene from the wheat plant that can break down oxalic acid has made chestnut blight nothing but a minor pest to the trees whose genome has been altered with it.
In this episode, we talk with PhD student Erik Carlson from SUNY Syracuse's College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry about this "lab error", how it really wasn't that big of a deal in the long run, and how the project is still on track.
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Aard Bewoner
We have a handful of mature 110 year old Castanea dentata in the Arboretum of Tervuren, come check em' out! Also, the oldest, largest Castanea sativa is located on the Eastern slope of Mt. Etna. It is called the 'Castagno dei cento cavalli' and its age estimates range from 2000-4000 years old. It had a circumference of 58m (190ft) when it was measured in 1780. It has since split into 3 massive trunks. https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/ita/sicily/santalfio/2310_castagnodeicentocavalli/3519/ Italy also has the oldest Larix decidua in the world, with age estimates ranging from 900-2000 years old. The Santa Gertrude Larches in Val 'd'Ultimo, in the North of Italy. https://www.monumentaltrees.com/en/ita/trentinoaltoadige/ultimo/12812_forest/25954/
