Washington Post interviews Tan about discovering genetic mishap in chestnut trees
Ek Han Tan, associate professor of plant genetics, spoke with The Washington Post about a discovery he and University of New England researcher Thomas Klak made when studying chestnut trees. Many researchers across much of the U.S. thought they were studying genetically-modified chestnut trees known as Darling 58s, created to resist a deadly disease. Tan and Klak, however, found out they were actually given a different variety known as Darling 54, which had the gene inserted in the wrong spot and was experiencing various complications. When they informed the American Chestnut Foundation about the issue, many others soon learned that they too were given the incorrect variety. “The success as well as the failure, if you want to say failure, of the technology hinges upon public opinion, right? So we cannot say something is not what it is,” Tan said. The Portland Press Herald shared the article from The Washington Post.