Genetically Engineering the American Chestnut

摘要

American chestnut trees were once among the most majestic hardwood trees in the eastern deciduous forests, many reaching 80 to 120 feet (24.4-36.6 m) in height and 8 feet (2.4 m) or more in diameter.The "then boundless chestnut woods" Thoreau wrote about in Walden once grew throughout the Appalachian mountains. They provided habitat and a mast crop for wildlife, a nutritious nut crop for humans, and a source of valuable timber. Because of their rapid growth rate and rot-resistant wood, they also have significant potential for carbon sequestration (Jacobs et al. 2009), important in these days of climate change.The species has a sad story to tell. Of the estimated four billion American chestnut trees that once grew from Maine to Georgia, only a remnant survive today (Dalgleish et al. 2016).