Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The meeting was called to order by Chairman MacDonald at 8:15 am on October 27, 2006 at the National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) in Shepherdstown, WV. MacDonald introduced Jim Willis who welcomed the group to NCTC, a 540-acre facility. NCTC, opened in 1997, was constructed as a training center for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, an organization with 8,000 employees. The facility was intentionally built too large for the purpose of expanding educational opportunities. The facility also serves other Federal agencies, USGS, Park Service, USDA, etc. but fifty-percent of current use is for educational groups. The facility was built with low maintenance in mind (e.g. stainless steel roofs). There was a concerted effort to make the facility blend in with the WV landscape and a lot of local stone was used in construction of the buildings. Willis encouraged educational groups to take advantage of the facility. Chairman MacDonald then asked attendees to introduce themselves. See detailed minutes attached.

Michael Vayda, Administrative Advisor
Vayda indicated that he is pleased to be working with this group and he thanked everyone for a warm welcome. He hopes to assist the group as its administrative advisor. The current NE-1015 project runs from 1 October 2003 through 30 September 2008. Vayda commented that NE-1015 is a group of very passionate and dedicated people. He has found the meeting to be stimulating with top quality research. The 2006 meeting is mid-way through the project (3 years). Vayda has to write a mid-point assessment that includes: accomplishments and progress of the team; interaction of the project team members; leverage of funding; and, the interdependency of team members. Vayda outlined important dates for a new proposal preparation (by technical committee), considering that it takes about 20 months for a project to be approved.
Working backwards the steps to have a new project approved are:

• New project initiates 10/1/2008
• Project approved by CSREES 9/1/2008
• Proposal approved by NERA 7/1/2008
• Proposal reviewed by NERA 3/1/2008
• Finished proposal to NERA 2/15/2008
• Request to write multi-state project proposal 8/1/2007

Given the time constraints, an outline of the next project is due before the next annual meeting. Vayda posed the question, "Does this group want to continue as a multi-state project?" NE-1015 is comprised of many individuals who are non-experiment station members, thus the leverage factor of this group is very high. Several project members do not have any experiment station appointments. A remark was made that the paperwork for joining the project is burdensome.

Technical Committee:

• Is more than collating station reports
• reviews progress towards objectives
• coordinates efforts of project members
• AES and non-AES contributions to project

If NE-1015 is to continue as a multi-state project, then NE-1015 members

• must demonstrate co-dependency & interaction
• identify participants and roles
• identify use of AES (seed) funding
• identify extramural (enabling) funding sources
• demonstrate outreach (extension?) efforts

A clear strategy for success must be demonstrated by defining the following:

• what is "success", when will the battle be won?
• how long until "success"?
• immediate term objectives
• how immediate term objectives will get us to "success"?

The next steps for the technical committee include:

• Prepare List of Project Participants, including their affiliation, AES support, leverage, talents
• Identify co-PI grants generated
• Identify "economic impact"
• Appoint "Writing Committee", any volunteers?
• Set schedule for proposal writing
  • Group input phase (how gather input, come to consensus?)
  • Outline phase (long term, short term objectives, timeline)
  • Grunt phase
  • Polish/review phase

The project tends to broaden, and at some point efforts are diluted. The group needs to ask, "what are the core objectives?" For an effective project, solid goals are needed so that all the pieces fit together. Vayda continued by saying that a clear vision must be articulated-a road map is required. There was some discussion if NE-1015 should remain as a northeast project or another division, or a national project. Vayda offered the potato germplasm project as an example of a national project where the funding was reduced to zero. Vayda recommended that the 1015 project remain a regional project and it should remain in the northeast.

Business Meeting
At the 2005 meeting, Angus Dawe was elected as Chair-elect. Dawe will chair the 2007 meeting, and agreed to host the meeting either in New Mexico or Virginia. Given that travel to New Mexico may limit participation, Dawe agreed to chair the meeting in Meadowview, VA. Sisco commented that holding the meeting near the Meadowview farm would be good for the NSF grant. For the chair-elect for 2007, Sandra Anagnostakis nominated Dennis Fulbright. The nomination was seconded by Hill Craddock. Fulbright was elected unanimously.

There was discussion about renewing the project. The following members agreed to act as a steering committee: Bill MacDonald, Sandra Anagnostakis, Dennis Fulbright, Fred Hebard, Hill Craddock, Paul Sisco, Don Nuss. Michael Gold was suggested as someone who might be willing to join the steering committee. MacDonald agreed to provide deadlines for the vision statement.

A tour of the Maryland Chapter of TACF chestnut orchard was conducted by Robert Strasser.

Vayda indicated that the 3-page summary of the 2006 meeting is due 60 days from the conclusion of the meeting.

2004 Milestones Accomplished:

• Nutritional analyses of nuts was conducted from orchard selections and cultivars of chestnut.(Anagnostakis)
• Hypovirulent strains of C. parasitica were developed and deployed for blight control on native chestnut trees at each of three clear-cut forest areas and one nursery are planted with hybrid chestnut trees (Anagnostakis)
• Site was selected for release of Euro 7 transgenic strains in West Virginia (MacDonald and Nuss)

2005 Milestones Accomplished:

• Market research analyses were completed and the findings reported (MO, MI). New selections of experimental lines from MO, CT, TN and MI are being established. (Gold)
• Orchard of advanced backcross chestnut for assessment of host resistance with hypovirulence was established in WV, albeit the planting failed due to raccoon predation of nuts (MacDonald and Hebard)
• Characterization of the role of hypovirus p29 in virus RNA accumulation in C. parasitica and virus transmission through conidia of the fungus (Nuss)
• Generation of polyclonal antibodies against 5 overlapping regions of hypovirus ORF B and construction of a C. parasitica database (Nuss)

2006 Milestones Accomplished:

• Publication of a C. parasitica EST database containing approximately 2500 ESTs (Nuss)
• Demonstration that hypovirus p29 suppresses RNA silencing in C. parasitica and in heterologous plant system, the first report of a mycovirus-encoded suppressor of RNA silencing (Nussnot proposed)
• A proposal to sequence the C. parasitica genome was approved by the Department of Enegy Community Sequencing Program. A draft of the C. parasitica genome sequence should be available to the research community in 2007 (Nuss, Churchill, Milgroom).
• A proposal to develop more genetic markers and a better genetic map for the Fagaceae was approved by the National Science Foundation's Plant Genome Research Program. The results of the four-year project will be posted at http://www.genome.clemson.edu/projects/fagaceae/(Carlson, Sisco, Hebard, Anagnostakis)
• Chestnut market analyses completed and findings reported (Gold)
• New processed chestnut products introduced (Fulbright, Gold)
• New chestnut cultivars established in several cooperating locations (Fulbright, Gold)
• Role of canker age and vegetative compatibility on the perpetuation of hypoviruses determined, following their introduction into forest chestnut trees.

Alexander, S., M. Alexander and J.H. Craddock. 2006. Host pathogen interactions in a segregating population of BC2F2 hybrid Castanea dentata after exposure to hypovirus-containing and hypovirus-free strains of Cryphonectria parasitica. In: Restoration of American Chestnut to Forest Lands: Proc. Of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004. The North Carolina Arboretum. Poster, available as a pdf on line at: http://chestnut.cas.psu.edu/nps.htm

Alexander, M.T., L.M. Worthen and J.H. Craddock. 2005. Conservation of Castanea germplasm of the southeastern United States. Acta Hort. (ISHS) 693:485-490.

Allen, T.D., A.L. Dawe and D.L. Nuss. 2003. Use of cDNA microarrays to monitor transcriptional responses of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica to infection by virulence-attenuating hypovirus. Eurkaryotic Cell 2:1253-1265 (not included in previous report).

Allen, T.D. and D.L. Nuss. 2004. Specific and common alterations in host gene transcript accumulation following infection of the chestnut blight fungus by mild and severe hypovirus. J. Virol. 78:4145-4155 (not included in previous report).

Carlson, J.C. 2006. Biological confinement of genetically engineered organisms. Pages 151-158 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Craddock, J.H. 2006. Chestnut breeding in the United States. Pages 109-128 in: Tree Breeding Researchers: for the next half century. Proc. International Symposium for the 50th Anniversary of KFGR and the 20th Anniversary of the late Dr. S.K. Hyun. June 15-16, 2006, Forest Seed Research Center, Suanbo, Korea. KFRI.

Craddock, J.H., M.T. Alexander, S.H. Alexander, J.L. Bramblett and L.M. Worthen. 2005. Chestnut cultivar evaluations in Tennessee: orchard establishment and early germplasm characterization. Acta Hort (ISHS) 693:465-470.

Davis, D. 2006. Historical significance of American chestnut to Appalachian culture and ecology. Pages 53-60 in: Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Davis. J.E., T.L. Kubisiak and M.G. Milgroom. 2005. Polymorphic sequence-characterized codominant loci in the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica. Mol. Ecol. Notes 5:195-197.

Dawe, A.L., V.C. McMains, M. Panglao, S. Kasahara, B. Chen and D.L. Nuss. 2003. An ordered collection of expressed sequences from Cryphonectria parasitica and evidence of genomic microsynteny with Neurospora crassa and Magnaporthe grisea. Microbiology 149:2373-2384 (not included in previous report).

Diskin, M. and K.C. Steiner. 2006. Rate of recovery of the American chestnut phenotype through backcross breeding of hybrid trees. Pages 129-131 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Finley, J. and K.C. Steiner. 2006. Summary of facilitated workshop of restoration of American chestnut to National Park system lands. Pages 227-230 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Gold. M.A., M.M. Cernusca and L.D. Godsey. 2005. Update on consumers preferences for chestnuts. HortTechnology 15: 904-906.

Gold. M.A., M.M. Cernusca and L.D. Godsey. 2006. Competitive market analysis: chestnut producers. HortTechnology 16:360-369.

Griffin, G. J. Elkins, D. McCurdy and L. Griffin. 2006. Integrated use of resistance, hypovirulence and forest management to control blight on American chestnut. Pages 97-107 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Hebard. F.V. 2006. Notes from Meadowview 2005-2006. J. Am. Chestnut Found. 10:18-25.

Hebard, F.V. 2006. The backcross breeding program of The American Chestnut Foundation. Pages 61-77 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Hunt, K. M.A. Gold, W. Reid and M. Warmund. 2005. Growing Chinese chestnuts in Missouri. Agroforestry in action. Univ. of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, 23 Jan. 2006.

Kellogg, S.K. and L.K. Rieske. 2005. Resistance to a fungal pathogen influences resistance to generalist herbivores. Entomologia experimentalis et applicata 117: 209-219.

Kubisiak, T.L. C. Dutech and M.G. Milgroom. 2006. Fifty-four polymorphic microsatellite loci in the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica. Mol. Ecol. Notes (in press).

Kubisiak, T.L. and M.G. Milgroom. 2006. Markers lined to vegetative incompatibility (vic) loci and a region of reduced recombination near the mating type locus (MAT) in Cryphonectria parasitica. Fungal. Genet. Biol. 43:453-463.

Kubisiak, T.L. and J. Roberds. 2006. Genetic structure of American chestnut populations based on neutral DNA markers. Pages 1009-122 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Jacob-Wilk, D.M. Turina and N.K. Van Alfen. 2006. Mycovirus Crphonectria hypovirus 1 elements cofractionate with trans-golgi network membranes of the fungal host Cryphonectria parasitica. J. Virol. 80:6588-6596.

Lang, P. F. Dane and T.L. Kubisiak. 2006. Phylogeny of Castanea (Fagaceae) based on chloroplast trnT-L-F sequence data. Tree Genetics and Genomes 2:132-139.

Lang, P. F. Dane, T.L. Kubisiak and H.Huang. 2006. Molecular evidence for an Asian origin and a unique westward mirgration of species in the genus Castanea via Europe to North America. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (in press).

Liang, H, H. Gao, C.A. Maynard and W.A. Powell. 2005. Expression of a self-processing putative pathogen resistance-enhancing gene construct in Arabidopsis. Biotech. L. 27:435-442.

Liu, S. and J.C. Carlson. 2006. Selection for Chinese vs American genetic material in blight-resistant backcross progeny using genomic DNA. Pages 133-150 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Liu, Y.-C., J.N. Dynek, B.I. Hillman and M.G. Milgroom. 2006. Diversity of Cryphonectria parasitica and C. nitschkei in Japan and China, and partial characterization of a new chrysovirus species. Mycol. Res. (in press).

MacDonald, W.L. and M.L. Double. 2006. Hypovirulence: use and limitations as a chestnut blight biological control. Pages 87-95 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Maynard, C.A., L.D. Polin, S. LaPierre, R.E. Rothrock and W.A. Powell. 2006. American chestnut (Castanea dentate (Marsh.) Borkh.). Pages 239-0251. In K. Wang, Ed. Agrobacterium Protocols: (2nd Edition) Methods in Molecular Biology Book Series #344, Humana Press, Inc. Totowa, NJ.

Merkle, S.A., G.M. Andrade, C.J. Nairn, W.A. Powell and C.A. Maynard (in press). Restoration of threatened species: a noble cause for transgenic trees. Tree Genetics and Genomes
http://www.springerlink.com/content/1614-2950/?k=Merkle

McGuire, I.C., J.E. Davis, M.L. Double, W.L. MacDonald, J.T. Rauscher, S. McCawley and M.G. Milgroom. 2005. Heterokaryon formation and parasexual recombination between vegetatively incompatible lineages in a population of the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica. Mol. Ecol. 14: 3657-3669.

Phelps, T. K.C. Steiner, C.C. Chen and J. Zacek. 2006. Planting trials of American chestnut in central Appalachian forests. Pages 161-166 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Polin, L.D., H. Liang, R. Rothrock, M. Nishii, D. Diehl, A. Newhouse, W.A. Powell and C.A. Maynard. 2006. Transformation of American chestnut (Castanea dentate (Marsh.) Borkh.) somatic embryos. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture 84:69-78.

Powell, W.A., C.A. Maynard, B. Boyle and A. Seguin. 2006. Fungal and bacterial resistance in transgenic trees. Pages 235-252. In: M. Fladung and D. Ewald, Eds., Tree Transgenics, Recent Developments. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, Germany. 357 p.

Rothrock, R.L., L. McGuigan, A. Newhouse, W.A. Powell and C.A. Maynard. (in press). Plate flooding as an alternative Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method for American chestnut somatic embryos. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture.

Schlarbaum, S., S. Brosi, and S. Anagnostakis. 2006. Feasibility of large-scale reintroduction of chestnut to National Park Service lands. Pages 195-202 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Segers, G.C., R. van Wezel, X. Zhang, Y. Hong and D.L. Nuss. 2006. Hypovirus papain-like protease p29 suppresses RNA silencing in the natural fungal host and in a heterologous plant system. Eukaryotic Cell 5: 896-904.

Sisco, Paul H. 2006. An update on chestnut DNA projects: Part I. The genes for blight resistance from Chinese chestnut. J. Am. Chestnut Found. 20(1): 21-29.

Sisco, Paul. H. 2006. An update on chestnut DNA projects: Part II. Other uses of molecular markers in the TACF breeding program. J. Am. Chestnut Found. 20(2):35-43.

Smith, M.L. C.C. Gibbs and M.G. Milgroom. 2006. Heterokaryon incompatibility function of barrage-associated vegetative incompatibility genes (vic) in Cryphonectria parasitica. Mycologia 98:43-50.

Smith, M.L., M.G. Milgroom, D. Rigling and U. Heineger. 2006. Occurrence of Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 in the chestnut blight fungus in Macedonia. Forest Pathology 36:136-143.

Sotirovski, K., M.G. Milgroom, D. Rigling and U. Heineger. 2006. Occurrence of Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 in the chestnut blight fungus in Macedonia. Forest Pathology 36:136-143.

Steiner, K.C. 2006. Regional adaptation in American chestnut. Pages 123-128 in: Steiner K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Steiner, K.C. and J.E. Carlson, eds. 2006. Restoration of American Chestnut To Forest Lands-Proceedings of a Conference and Workshop. May 4-6, 2004, The North Carolina Arboretum, Natural Resources Report NPS/NCR/CUE/NRR-2006/001, National Park Service, Washington, DC.

Strasser, Robert. 2006. Of place and time. J. Am. Chestnut Found. 10:12-15.

Sun, L., D.L. Nuss and N. Suzuki. 2006. Synergism between a mycovirus and a hypovirus mediated by the papain-like protease p29 of the prototypic hypovirus CHV1-EP713. J. General Virology (in press).

Suzuki, N., K. Maruyama, M. Moriyama and D.L. Nuss. 20053 Hypovirus paparin-like protease p29 functions in trans to enhance viral double-stranded RNA accumulation and vertical transmission. J. Virol. 77:11697-11707 (not included in previous report).

Turina, M., L. Zhang and Neal K. Van Alfen. 2006. Effect of Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV1) infection on Cpkk1, a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase of the filamentour fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Fungal Genetics and Biology (in press).

University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry. 2004. Why chestnuts: Nutrition and your health. Univ. of Missouri Center for Agroforestry, 23 Jan. 2006.
http://www.centerforagroforestry.org/pubs/whychestnuts.pdf (not listed in previous report).

Welch, A.J., C.A. Maynard, A. J. Stipanovic and W.A. Powell. (in press). The effects of oxalic acid on transgenic Castanea dentate callus tissue expressing oxalate oxidase. Plant Science.

Worthen, L.M. 2005. Expression of hypovirulence in a segregating population of BC2F2 Castanea dentate hybrids. Departmental Honors Thesis, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.