In as little as five years, 10,000 chestnut trees that have been genetically modified to withstand a fungal blight that nearly wiped out the species in its native territory may be ready to plant.
Scientists at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, unhappy with the current and slow-going efforts to restore the tree by interbreeding with the Asian chestnut, decided to try and "engineer resistance," according to an article on ArsTechnica.
Their reasoning went like this: The fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) destroys the tree with a chemical called oxalic acid. Many plants carry genes that break oxalic acid into simpler, less lethal chemicals. Introduce those genes into the American chestnut and, scientists hope, no more fungus.
Trials have yielded positive results, and the strain of chestnut is ready to be introduced to the tree's previous habitat, but it must first be approved by a triumvirate of federal agencies: the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, not to mention public opinion.
