Abstract

WINK, L. 1984. Scientists search for clues to American chestnut mystery. Am. Nurseryman 159(2): 93-94.

The American chestnut story unfolds like a biological murder mystery, complete with several incongruous elements that add to the intrigue. Dennis Fulbright, a Michigan State University plant pathologist, is attempting to unravel the biological phenomena that are producing the disease-fighting reaction so that synthetic vaccines can be produced. Eventually, he hopes to come up with natural inoculants to fight Dutch elm disease and stone fruit diseases. What intrigues Fulbright is that some Michigan trees have never been infected by chestnut blight. These healthy trees have been found both in isolation and in the midst of infected groves. At this point, scientists do not know how to protect healthy American chestnut trees other than by giving them a mild form of the blight, which causes scar tissue to form as a byproduct of immunity. Fulbright’s investigations in the laboratory have now identified six viruslike molecules that are able to trigger the production of hypovirulent fungal strains.

• © 1985, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.