UGA Research into Clonal Propagation of The American Chestnut
 

Summary of ongoing research with American chestnut at the University of Georgia
Warnell School of Forest Resources
Dr. Scott Merkle

The American Chestnut Foundation’s breeding program should result in the production of blight-resistant American chestnut genotypes within the next five years.  However, even once these genotypes become available, a system for mass propagation of the best genetic material is still lacking.  Based on previous experience with other hardwood forest trees, the lab in the Warnell School of Forest Resources at the University of Georgia is working to establish a high-frequency in vitro clonal propagation system for American chestnut via somatic embryogenesis. 

While progress with this research over the past decade has been slow, work has accelerated in the past few years thanks to support from ArborGen LLC and the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research (CPBR).  We have initiated hundreds of embryogenic cultures from immature American chestnut seeds supplied by The American Chestnut Foundation and other sources.  In the past two years, we have improved our culture system so that we can now produce hundreds of tissue culture-derived somatic seedlings (clonal plantlets) from a single embryogenic culture.  We are continuing to test new treatments to raise our production efficiency even further.

Embryogenic cultures are initiated from immature American chestnut seeds. Remains of the immature seed are dark. New embryogenic growth is white

Embryogenic cultures can produce thousands of American chestnut somatic embryos

American chestnut somatic embryo germinating in vitro

Research Coordinator Gisele Andrade in front of an incubator holding some of the chestnut plantlets she has produced

Tissue culture vessels crowded with American chestnut plantlets

American chestnut somatic seedlings growing in the greenhouse following hardening off