Incidence of mycoviruses in epidemic and post-epidemic populations of the ash dieback pathogen Chalara fraxinea and evaluation of their potential for biological control of the disease

• Project promoter: Nature Research Centre
• Project partner: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research
• Implementation period: 01.11.2012–30.04.2016;
• Budget: 2.165.271 LTL

Short project description

The aim of the Project: The ascomycetous fungus Chalara fraxinea is a new invasive pathogen causing severe ash dieback thus threatening the existence of Fraxinus spp. in Europe. The disease was first recorded in mid 1990s in eastern Poland and Lithuania and has since then spread across the continent. Today, ash stands in Lithuania experience a post-epidemic chronic dieback with only a small fraction of asymptomatic trees. In Switzerland, the disease was first reported in 2008 in the northwest, from where it expands rapidly to other regions. Options for management of this novel forest disease are currently very limited and mainly directed to search for resistance in the host tree. The main aims of the proposed collaborative Project are therefore: (i) to characterize epidemic (Swiss) and post-epidemic (Lithuanian) populations of the ash dieback pathogen C. fraxinea in respect to virulence, genetic diversity and occurrence of mycoviruses, and (ii) to assess biological control potential of the identified mycoviruses against the disease.