Transgenic american chestnuts show enhanced blight resistance and transmit the trait to T1 progeny

Andrew E. Newhouse; Linda D. Polin-McGuigan; Kathleen A. Baier; Kristia E.R. Valletta; William H. Rottmann; Timothy J. Tschaplinski; Charles A. Maynard; William A. Powell

doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2014.04.004

Transgenic american chestnuts show enhanced blight resistance and transmit the trait to T1 progeny

Andrew E. Newhouse, Linda D. Polin-McGuigan, Kathleen A. Baier, Kristia E.R. Valletta, William H. Rottmann, Timothy J. Tschaplinski, Charles A. Maynard, William A. Powell

Biosciences Division

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79 Scopus citations

Abstract

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a classic example of a native keystone species that was nearly eradicated by an introduced fungal pathogen. This report describes progress made toward producing a fully American chestnut tree with enhanced resistance to the blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). The transgenic American chestnut 'Darling4,' produced through an Agrobacterium co-transformation procedure to express a wheat oxalate oxidase gene driven by the VspB vascular promoter, shows enhanced blight resistance at a level intermediate between susceptible American chestnut and resistant Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima). Enhanced resistance was identified first with a leaf-inoculation assay using young chestnuts grown indoors, and confirmed with traditional stem inoculations on 3- and 4-year-old field-grown trees. Pollen from 'Darling4' and other events was used to produce transgenic T1 seedlings, which also expressed the enhanced resistance trait in leaf assays. Outcrossed transgenic seedlings have several advantages over tissue-cultured plantlets, including increased genetic diversity and faster initial growth. This represents a major step toward the restoration of the majestic American chestnut.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	88-97
Number of pages	10
Journal	Plant Science
Volume	228
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plantsci.2014.04.004
State	Published - Nov 1 2014

Funding

Funding sources included: The American Chestnut Foundation – New York Chapter , the Forest Health Initiative , BRAG -Biotechnology Risk Assessment Program Competitive Grant no. 2008-39211-19564 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, ArborGen Inc. , and the Unger Vetlesen Foundation . This research was supported, in part, by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research, as part of the Plant-microbe Interfaces Science Focus Area (based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, U.S.A.). This manuscript has been co-authored by a contractor of the US Government under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. None of these funding sources were involved in study design, data collection, data analysis, interpretation of results, writing of this report, or the decision to submit this report for publication. Help and support were graciously provided by: Maud Hinchee, Herb & Jane Darling and Richard Wells of TACF-NY, the SUNY-ESF Physical Plant, Aaron Barrigar, Collin Bartholomew, Clara Miller, Megan Newhouse, Drew Teller, and Allison Oakes.

Funders	Funder number
American Chestnut Foundation	2008-39211-19564
ArborGen Inc.
Interfaces
Office of Science, Biological and Environmental Research
U.S. Department of Energy
G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Keywords

Co-transformation
Fungus
Genetic engineering
Heritage tree
Invasive
Restoration

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10.1016/j.plantsci.2014.04.004

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title = "Transgenic american chestnuts show enhanced blight resistance and transmit the trait to T1 progeny",

abstract = "American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a classic example of a native keystone species that was nearly eradicated by an introduced fungal pathogen. This report describes progress made toward producing a fully American chestnut tree with enhanced resistance to the blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). The transgenic American chestnut 'Darling4,' produced through an Agrobacterium co-transformation procedure to express a wheat oxalate oxidase gene driven by the VspB vascular promoter, shows enhanced blight resistance at a level intermediate between susceptible American chestnut and resistant Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima). Enhanced resistance was identified first with a leaf-inoculation assay using young chestnuts grown indoors, and confirmed with traditional stem inoculations on 3- and 4-year-old field-grown trees. Pollen from 'Darling4' and other events was used to produce transgenic T1 seedlings, which also expressed the enhanced resistance trait in leaf assays. Outcrossed transgenic seedlings have several advantages over tissue-cultured plantlets, including increased genetic diversity and faster initial growth. This represents a major step toward the restoration of the majestic American chestnut.",

keywords = "Co-transformation, Fungus, Genetic engineering, Heritage tree, Invasive, Restoration",

author = "Newhouse, {Andrew E.} and Polin-McGuigan, {Linda D.} and Baier, {Kathleen A.} and Valletta, {Kristia E.R.} and Rottmann, {William H.} and Tschaplinski, {Timothy J.} and Maynard, {Charles A.} and Powell, {William A.}",

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AU - Tschaplinski, Timothy J.

AU - Maynard, Charles A.

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AB - American chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a classic example of a native keystone species that was nearly eradicated by an introduced fungal pathogen. This report describes progress made toward producing a fully American chestnut tree with enhanced resistance to the blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). The transgenic American chestnut 'Darling4,' produced through an Agrobacterium co-transformation procedure to express a wheat oxalate oxidase gene driven by the VspB vascular promoter, shows enhanced blight resistance at a level intermediate between susceptible American chestnut and resistant Chinese chestnut (Castanea mollissima). Enhanced resistance was identified first with a leaf-inoculation assay using young chestnuts grown indoors, and confirmed with traditional stem inoculations on 3- and 4-year-old field-grown trees. Pollen from 'Darling4' and other events was used to produce transgenic T1 seedlings, which also expressed the enhanced resistance trait in leaf assays. Outcrossed transgenic seedlings have several advantages over tissue-cultured plantlets, including increased genetic diversity and faster initial growth. This represents a major step toward the restoration of the majestic American chestnut.

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Transgenic american chestnuts show enhanced blight resistance and transmit the trait to T1 progeny

Abstract

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Keywords

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