Researchers are developing a genetically modified American chestnut tree that is capable of resisting a deadly blight that has been wiping out the species.
The trees, engineered by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will be bred with non-engineered trees and planted in forests, pending approval from U.S. regulators, according to Science magazine.
The dwindling American chestnut owes its state of rapid decline to a fungal infection—known as the chestnut blight—that was imported from Asia in the early 1900s and spread rapidly.
The hybrids have been modified to fend off the blight, and researchers believe it could help restore the American chestnut population back to its former abundance in North America.
The endeavor faces a lengthy approval process before being introduced into forests, however, and questions persist regarding whether the fungus will evolve a way to infect the new trees.
This would be the first attempt to use a genetically modified tree to help restore a native species in North America, according to the report.
