
Allison OakesSUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry | SUNY-ESF · Department of Environmental and Forest Biology
Allison Oakes
Doctor of Philosophy, Plant Science and Biotechnology
About
15
Publications
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237
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Introduction
Developing elm yellows-resistant American elm lines via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation with hardwood tree pathogen-resistance genes
Additional affiliations
Education
August 2009 - December 2015
August 2006 - May 2009
Publications
Publications (15)
Transgenic American chestnut trees expressing a wheat gene for oxalate oxidase (OxO) can tolerate chestnut blight, but as with any new restoration material, they should be carefully evaluated before being released into the environment. Native pollinators such as bumble bees are of particular interest: Bombus impatiens use pollen for both a source o...
Limited rooting and acclimatization success when micropropagating certain hardwood tree species may hinder conservation efforts of certain threatened and endangered species. Restoration efforts for such trees, such as the American chestnut [Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.], require a massive number of plantlets to be produced by micropropagation f...
American chestnut (Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh) was almost completely wiped out by the fungal pathogen, Cryphonectria parasitica (Murrill) M.E. Barr. Another invasive pathogen, Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands, is devastating American chestnuts in the southern region of the United States. An alternative approach for controlling these pathogens is t...
The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once an integral part of eastern United States deciduous forests, with many environmental, economic, and social values. This ended with the introduction of an invasive fungal pathogen that wiped out over three billion trees. Transgenic American chestnuts expressing a gene for oxalate oxidase successfully...
Tissue culture of plants has many applications, from producing genetically identical horticultural varieties, to production of secondary metabolites, to virus indexing, and most relevantly, developing novel traits by genetic transformation. Using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation on somatic embryos, blight-resistant American chestnuts [Castanea...
Many hardwood tree species are being threatened by exotic pests, and for some, only genetic engineering can offer a solution before functional extinction occurs. An example of how genetic engineering can be a useful tool for forest restoration is the transgenic american chestnuts, which contain a wheat oxalate oxidase gene conferring resistance to...
Developing a blight resistant American chestnut
has been the goal of the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project for decades. The development of blight resistant American chestnuts through genetic engineering and biotechnology required refining
micropropagation protocols to achieve desired production of field-ready trees. The rooting an...
The key to successful transformation of American chestnut is having the correct combination of explant tissue, selectable markers, a very robust DNA delivery system, and a reliable regeneration system. The most important components of this transformation protocol for American chestnut are the following: starting out with rapidly dividing somatic em...
American chestnut [Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.] dominated the eastern forests of North America, serving as a keystone species both ecologically and economically until the introduction of the chestnut blight, Cryphonectria parasitica, functionally eradicated the species. Restoration efforts include genetic transformation utilizing genes such as...
One of the most difficult processes of micropropagation is rooting and acclimatizing in vitro shoot cultures, especially for hardwood tree species. As more transgenic lines of potentially blight-resistant American chestnut (Castanea dentata) are developed, we expect to produce thousands of tiny shoots to be rooted, transferred to potting mix, and g...
Rooting and acclimatization are two difficult stages of plant tissue culture, requiring an efficient system to reduce losses in plant materials, supplies and labor. This is especially important when working with vital transgenic cultures. Two modifications to a standard American chestnut rooting procedure, removing the activated charcoal and adding...
American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was transformed with a wheat oxalate oxidase (oxo) gene in an effort to degrade the oxalic acid (OA) secreted by the fungus Cryphonectria parasitica, thus decreasing its virulence. Expression of OxO was examined under two promoters: a strong constitutive promoter, CaMV 35S, and a predominantly vascular promoter,...
Softwood cuttings of American elm varieties 'Jefferson', 'New Harmony', 'Princeton', 'R18-2', 'Valley Forge', and a tissue-cultured non-transformed control clone (BP-NT) were rooted using three different treatments to determine which method would be most suitable for small-scale propagation. The treatments included aeroponic chambers, an intermitte...