Small Stem Assay Method Instructions. American chestnut test for enhanced blight resistance. From left to right, the trees are a blight-susceptible wild-type American chestnut (C. dentata) called ...

Chestnut blight, a fungus that originated in Asia, was first noted in the United States in 1904 at the New York Zoological Garden. ... Chinese chestnuts are the most blight-resistant, ...

As molecular plant pathology research advances, more and more genes are being identified with a plant's ability to defend itself against disease (see Powell et al. 2006).In order to enhance ...

The American Chestnut Foundation, among others, has been trying for decades to breed a hybrid that is mostly American in genetics but with the fungus-fighting traits of the Chinese type.

The theory was that only a few genes controlled the Chinese chestnut’s resistance to the blight, Carlson said. But it turned out that many, many more did, derailing the effort.

Stephen Zuk tills the soil to prepare for chestnut tree planting on his property in Cressona, Friday, June 20, 2025. The planting is part of an effort to develop a hybrid, crossbred with a Chinese ...

The New York Restoration Project has launched an effort to plant 1,000 thriving American chestnut trees that are a hybrid with the blight-resistant Chinese chestnut tree in the five boroughs.

The Chinese chestnut is resistant to the blight but doesn’t have the same physical characteristics of the American. Old American chestnuts fruit each year, ...

The theory was that only a few genes controlled the Chinese chestnut’s resistance to the blight, Carlson said. But it turned out that many, many more did, derailing the effort.