Biological control of ophiostoma novo-ulmi, the causal agent of Dutch elm disease

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Elms are an economically important feature of urban landscapes across North America. Their elegant trunks and wide branches provide shade and shelter along many Canadian city streets. There are currently an estimated 700,000 elm trees in cities and towns across Canada however this has been reduced from the many millions of trees planted by urban planners during the past century. The pathogenic fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi has frustrated urban planners by selectively killing most of the elm trees planted in North America. There is currently no effective control for this particularly aggressive phytopathogen and Dutch elm disease remains unchecked. We are working towards developing a biological control for this pathogen through the development of a transmissible viral-based disease control. Building upon our research on the functional genomics and population genetics of this fungus we are working towards developing a series of fungal-specific targets to find ways to debilitate this aggressive pathogen. We propose that control of the fungus may be achieved by infecting the pathogen with a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) hypovirus that has been modified to target genes essential to the pathogenicity of this fungus. The improved targeting of transmissible hypovirulence, if proven in O. novo-ulmi, could provide a new approach to the biological control of many fungal pathogens.