Chestnut Chat: Evolution of Castanea and Cryphonectria

Chestnut Chat is a live webinar produced by The American Chestnut Foundation. This Chestnut Chat aired February 16, 2024 .
In this edition, Dr. Joanna Malukiewicz discusses the interplay in the evolution of Castanea and the chestnut blight fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica). Listen in to learn about the fascinating history of ancient natural hybridization among chestnut species across East Asia, Europe, and North America, and whether or not hybridization has played a role in the relative blight resistance or susceptibility of the extant chestnut species.
Dr. Malukiewicz, an evolutionary genomicist, worked with Dr. Jason Holliday (Virginia Tech) and Dr. Jared Westbrook (TACF) as a research associate at Virginia Tech to elucidate how the evolutionary history of chestnuts (Castanea) has influenced their susceptibility and resistance to chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). Her work on Castanea has included analysis of whole genomic resequencing data to look into questions regarding phylogeny, genetic diversity, and hybridization of chestnuts and the natural history of chestnut blight.