Biotechnology and Genomic Approaches to Mitigating Disease Impacts on Forest Health

Abstract

Outbreaks of insects and diseases are part of the natural disturbance regime of all forests. However, introduced pathogens have had outsized impacts on many dominant forest tree species over the past century. Mitigating these impacts and restoring these species are dilemmas of the modern era. Here, we review the ecological and economic impact of introduced pathogens, focusing on examples in North America. We then synthesize the successes and challenges of past biotechnological approaches and discuss the integration of genomics and biotechnology to help mitigate the effects of past and future pathogen invasions. These questions are considered in the context of the transgenic American chestnut, which is the most comprehensive example to date of how biotechnological tools have been used to address the impacts of introduced pathogens on naïve forest ecosystems.