Abstract
American chestnut (Castanea dentata), once a dominant and ecologically/economically important tree in the eastern U.S., has since been decimated by chestnut blight caused by Cryphonectria parasitica. One method of control is using fitness-reducing hypoviruses. Transmission of the hypovirus is controlled by vegetative incompatibility (vic) genes that must be identical in both donor and recipient strains to allow transfection. In the U.S., genetic diversity in vic genes has limited the use of hypovirulence. Engineered super donor (SD) strains of C. parasitica were developed to overcome this and transmit the virus regardless of vicgenotype. In 2016-2017, members of our lab treated chestnut cankers in chestnut stands in western Maryland with SD strains to see if they could provide viable control. Both experiments were successful but without additional re-treatment, a majority of infected trees ultimately succumbed to disease. In 2022, SD treated trees were removed, sampled, and measurements were taken and compared to previous measurements. Vicgenotyping was performed on recovered C. parasitica strains to characterize the vic genotype diversity after 6+ years since hypovirus application. As observed previously, cankers treated with hypovirus strain CHV1/Euro7 were smaller than CHV1/EP713 treated cankers. Additionally, phenotypes were found that may be associated with hypovirulence. This research contributes to the knowledge of C. parasitica’s ecology and the efficacy of SD, while uncovering important considerations regarding biotic and abiotic factors influencing disease.
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Claims 3
Claim · model-written summary
Super donor treatments initially controlled chestnut blight, but most infected trees ultimately died without retreatment.
- Taxon
- American Chestnut
Castanea dentatat0 - Treatment
- SD strainse1
- Outcome
- a majority of infected trees ultimately succumbed to diseasee0
- Setting
- western Marylande1
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Both experiments were successful but without additional re-treatment, a majority of infected trees ultimately succumbed to disease.”
t0“American Chestnut”
e1“treated chestnut cankers in chestnut stands in western Maryland with SD strains”
Claim · model-written summary
CHV1/Euro7-treated cankers were smaller than CHV1/EP713-treated cankers.
- Taxon
- American ChestnutCastanea dentatat0
- Treatment
- hypovirus strain CHV1/Euro7e0
- Outcome
- cankerse0
- Direction
- smallere0
- Comparator
- CHV1/EP713e0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“cankers treated with hypovirus strain CHV1/Euro7 were smaller than CHV1/EP713 treated cankers.”
t0“American Chestnut”
Claim · model-written summary
Phenotypes potentially associated with hypovirulence were found.
- Taxon
- American ChestnutCastanea dentatat0
- Outcome
- phenotypes were found that may be associated with hypovirulencee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“phenotypes were found that may be associated with hypovirulence.”
t0“American Chestnut”