Biotech Startup Breeds Blight Tolerant American Chestnut Without Any Genetic Defects https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/biotech-startup-breeds-blight-tolerant-american-chestnut-without-any-genetic-defects/
By analyzing variance between plants, SilvaBio's models were able to predict which ones would stand the best chance of resisting the blight.
Jul 20, 2026
The company is inspired by saving American hardwoods that have been ravaged by an introduced fungal disease, and says their proprietary approach could be replicated to help save American elm, ash, and white oak trees as well.
North American timber is a $350 billion industry. Hardwood forests support habitats and biodiversity, and anchor some 15% of all American carbon. Yet between chestnut blight, the emerald ash borer, and Dutch elm disease, many native species have experienced catastrophic declines.
Several concepts for protecting or immunizing American chestnuts from the blight which landed on American shores in the early 1900s from East Asia have failed or are being tested. Along with his partner and aptly-named entrepreneur Michael Bloom, Serazin and SilvaBio have approached the challenge by combining sophisticated predictive methods and knowledge of the chestnutâs genomics with their âLightspeedâ breeding process that offers an enhanced form of propagation.
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âA foreign pathogen took the American chestnut from our forests. As we approach our 250th, American innovation, science collaboration and stewardship are bringing it back. That is a story worthy of this anniversary,â said Jessica Bowron, National Park Service Acting Director, in a speech to mark the occasion.
Before Darling cultivars can be cultivated on mass, however, detailed regulatory science has to be conducted to ensure that focusing Natural Selection so pointedly to a single purpose does not compromise other aspects of the American chestnutâs biology.
For example, in December 2023, the American Chestnut Foundation withdrew its support for a genetically engineered chestnut that was decades in development, after multiple documented research errors revealed the tree to be genetically defective. Discouraging field performance rendered them, in the Foundationâs opinion, unsuitable as the basis for species restoration.
âHealthy forests depend on genetic diversity. Our goal is to develop dozens, and eventually many more, blight-tolerant, regionally adapted lines,â they wrote.
âIn the United States alone, an estimated 41% of our live forest biomass is threatened by just 15 non-native insects and diseases. The American chestnut is functionally extinct. Weâve lost roughly 75% of our mature elm trees. Ash is being devastated by the emerald ash borer, while beech, white oak, and walnut face their own emerging threats.â
âThe American chestnut is our first application, but the same approach can be extended to other species facing similar challenges. Each new species builds on the scientific knowledge, propagation capabilities, and restoration partnerships weâve already established.â
