Genomics Speeds Restoration of American Chestnut

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For over a century, scientists and conservationists have tried to restore the American chestnut, a tree that was once common across the eastern U.S. Now, a new study led by Virginia Tech researchers shows that genomic tools can dramatically speed up this effort by helping breeders predict which young trees are most likely to survive the chestnut blight long before they reach maturity.

Why it matters

The American chestnut was once a dominant tree species that shaped forests, but was nearly wiped out in the early 1900s by a fungal pathogen introduced from Asia. Restoring the American chestnut would help revive an ecologically and culturally important tree, but traditional breeding methods have been slow. This new genomic approach offers a faster path to reintroducing blight-resistant American chestnut trees that can thrive in forests.

The details

The researchers analyzed thousands of chestnut trees that had undergone years of breeding and field testing by The American Chestnut Foundation. By sequencing the trees' genomes and comparing genetic patterns with real-world disease outcomes, the team showed that resistance can be predicted using DNA data alone, an approach known as genomic selection. This allows breeders to identify promising trees as seedlings and move them forward more quickly, rather than relying on slow, labor-intensive methods of infecting trees and waiting years to see which survive.

• The research was published on Feb. 12, 2026 in Science.
• The next generation of trees is expected to start producing large quantities of seed for forest restoration in the next decade.

What they’re saying

What’s next

The researchers say the tools are now in place to make meaningful progress in restoring the American chestnut within a generation, with the next generation of blight-resistant trees expected to start producing large quantities of seed for forest restoration in the next decade.