The American Chestnut Foundation will hold a Chestnut Chat on Plant Pathology for Non-Plant Pathologists on July 24th at 11:30 am EDT.
When TACF began its traditional breeding program in 1986 at its research farm in Meadowview, Virginia, there were still many unknowns in the world of plant biology, genetics, and pathology. More than 30 years later, TACF has learned much along the way, including how many genes, and their specific function, were involved in blight resistance.
Why does the Chinese chestnut species, used in our backcross program, withstand blight infection while the American chestnut is so vulnerable? TACF is working hard to answer these critical research questions.
In Friday’s live Chestnut Chat, University of Maryland Ph.D. student and long-time TACF volunteer Bruce Levine will present an overview of plant immune systems. In addition to helping us understand why the genetics of blight resistance is so complex, we hope the presentation will provide food for thought about how we can better target our search for key resistance genes in the coming years.
To take part in the Chat, you can join by computer via Zoom at https://psu.zoom.us/j/93949310762#success or you may join by phone at 1-646-876-9923. The webinar ID is 939 4931 0762