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American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

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Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#21

Post by nebul »

culi wrote: post #5

Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…

For anyone wanting to learn more about this breeding technique, it's called backcrossing[1]. It's also used for agricultural crops, but requires many generations.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backcrossing

Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#22

Post by culi »

dfc wrote: post #20
culi wrote: post #5

Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…

The chestnut project is from the Commonwealth of Virginia, not West Virginia.

Woops, thanks for the correction

Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#23

Post by mod »

zaroth wrote: post #11

If this tree had a secret to cultivating a resistant strain that would be very awesome. Is there a good app which lets you input your zip code, maybe also sun exposure and soil conditions, how many feet of width and height you have available, and then where it will spit out a list of well-suited tree specimens with some nice pictures of each?

I've thought about finding this, or potentially building it if it doesn't exist.

I was thinking for gardens and fruit trees.

I'm particularly interested in well-suited plants because I will inevitably ignore them, and I'm hoping they can thrive without me.

I'm planting figs this fall.

Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#27

Post by lettergram »

culi wrote: post #5

Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…

Unfortunately, I can’t buy them yet. Driving me nuts

Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#28

Post by notsapiensatall »

echelon wrote: post #8
culi wrote: post #5

Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…

Why don't they use agrobacterium transfection, gene guns, or molecular techniques to directly transfer the resistance genes over? Do we not know what the genes themselves are? I'm not criticizing their technique! Nor do I think I know better. This is amazing and valuable work, and I'd love to know more.

I've been wondering the same things for the past decade. It seems like it's very hard to get your gene into the right place so that it will be expressed at the right time, with enough consistency to make a stable cell line.

Also, it seems rare to find just one gene that encodes a property or compound. Usually you need several genes to form a pathway from a common precursor chemical to your target result. That pathway will be leaky, and it may take resources away from other important chemicals that the plant's lifecycle relies on.

It sounds expensive and time consuming - plants take a long time to compile, and you can forget about reproducible builds. Plus, once you have your GMO, you'll be expected to take care not to release it into the wild, and in today's world, a decent chunk of people will oppose your product because of their personal beliefs.

Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#29

Post by lanstin »

mod wrote: post #23
zaroth wrote: post #11

If this tree had a secret to cultivating a resistant strain that would be very awesome. Is there a good app which lets you input your zip code, maybe also sun exposure and soil conditions, how many feet of width and height you have available, and then where it will spit out a list of well-suited tree specimens with some nice pictures of each?

I've thought about finding this, or potentially building it if it doesn't exist. I was thinking for gardens and fruit trees. I'm particularly interested in well-suited plants because I will inevitably ignore them, and I'm hoping they can thrive without me. I'm planting figs this fall.

Fig trees are excellent. My wife has one in her gatden, snd after just a few years ee get so many tasty fruits from a pretty small tree. I live in Bay Area and pretty much it is just water it a bit and every so often cut back weeds.

Re: American chestnut tree in Centreville is the 'holy grail' for conservationists

#30

Post by space_fountain »

echelon wrote: post #8
culi wrote: post #5

Saw this really amazing video[0] the other day about American Chestnut Foundation's breeding program in Virginia to revive the American chestnut Basically they hybridized it with Chinese/Japanese chestnuts (which are blight resistant). Then they take the offspring, test for blight resistance and rebreed those back with purebred American chestnuts. Then they repeat the process. Take those offspring, select for blight…

Why don't they use agrobacterium transfection, gene guns, or molecular techniques to directly transfer the resistance genes over? Do we not know what the genes themselves are? I'm not criticizing their technique! Nor do I think I know better. This is amazing and valuable work, and I'd love to know more.

There is actually a parallel technique nearing the finish line that does sort of this. The gene they moved though is from wheat not another tree species, but still seems to give great blight resistance. Currently the barrier to it is entirely regularity. I believe it would be one of the first plants approved to just be released into the wild without something to prevent it reproducing naturally. The normal anti genetic engineering types are very opposed, but it seems likely it will get approved in the next few years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/magazine/american-chestnu...

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