Why Sequence Chestnut Blight Fungus?
Cryphonectria parasitica, the chestnut blight fungus, is responsible for epidemics that caused the destruction of hundreds of millions of mature chestnut trees in forests of North America and Europe during the first part of the 20th century. The discovery of a group of RNA viruses, now classified in the family Hypoviridae (hypoviruses), that reduce the virulence (hypovirulence) of this pathogen stimulated intensive research into the potential of using fungal viruses for the biological control of fungal disease. Subsequent epidemiologic and population genetic studies have established the chestnut/C. parasitica/hypovirus pathosystem as the textbook example of both the consequences of accidental introduction of an exotic organism and of hypovirulence-mediated biological control of fungal pathogens. Interest in C. parasitica, hypoviruses, and their interactions now extends well beyond disease control potential. The development of a robust C. parasitica transformation protocol and of hypovi
