Scientists Find Resistance Gene against Spruce Budworm

Researchers from Université Laval, the University of British Columbia and the University of Oxford reported a natural resistance gene against spruce budworm in the white spruce. The spruce budworm is the most devastating insect of coniferous stands in Eastern North America. Thus, this new finding can be used to identify and select naturally resistant trees to replant forests devastated by the pest.

Eric Bauce and team found the gene in spruces that remained relatively undamaged by a local budworm outbreak. They compared the genomes of the resistant trees with those that suffered significant damage. They measured expression levels of nearly 24,000 genes in the two groups of trees and discovered a gene, betaglucosidase-1, whose expression in the needles of resistant spruce trees is up to 1,000 times higher than in non-resistant trees. This gene is found in all white spruces, however, it is expressed in different levels.

Read the original story at http://www.relationsmedias.ulaval.ca/comm/2014/novembre/decouverte-gene-resistance-tordeuse-des-bourgeons-3431.html?an=1.