Good Day BIO: USDA seeks input on blight-resistant tree – plus, has biotech found the fountain of youth?

USDA is seeking input on a gene-edited American chestnut tree, which has been awaiting regulatory approval. Plus, scientists are closing in on the “fountain of rejuvenation,” thanks to biotech. (631 words, 3 minutes, 9 seconds)

USDA seeks input on gene editing to save the American chestnut

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) opened public comment yesterday on a gene-edited American chestnut tree resistant to blight—an opportunity to save an American icon.

An invasive fungus that probably arrived with Japanese chestnut seeds in 1876 nearly wiped out the American chestnut, once a vital part of the Appalachian forest ecosystem with an estimated population of 4 billion.

The “functionally extinct” tree now only grows in protected orchards, but researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) have been working to bring it back.

By adding a wheat gene that naturally resists the fungus, the researchers produced a chestnut tree “genetically over 99.999 percent identical” to wild chestnuts, according to William Powell, director of SUNY ESF’s American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project—an alteration “less risky” and less dramatic than what occurs via cross-breeding.

Widespread planting of the blight-tolerant chestnut requires regulatory approval—but it’s been waiting about 10 years. Both APHIS and the EPA Office of Pesticide Programs must weigh in before researchers can begin repopulating the forests.

Your opinion matters: “Ultimately, public input will be integral to whether restoration can go forward,” an EPA official told The Washington Post—weigh in here and get more details.

Researchers close in on ‘fountain of rejuvenation’

This news caught our increasingly tired eyes: a new biotech firm says they can reverse the aging process in living cells by “flipping” DNA markers, helping us stay healthier longer.

Who: Altos Labs launched in January with the mission to use “cellular rejuvenating programming” to “restore cell health and resilience to reverse disease, injury, and the disabilities that can occur throughout life.”

What: Four proteins transformed mature skin cells into the kind of youthful stem cells found in an embryo, MIT explains. The science is based on a 15-year-old experiment that earned Shinya Yamanaka, an advisor to the company, a Nobel Prize.

How: The rejuvenation process is still not fully understood, but since the first experiment, we’ve learned it’s possible to maintain the identity of mature cells while reprogramming the specific DNA markers impacting aging.

The idea of a “fountain of rejuvenation” has sparked excitement—and much investment in Altos—but co-founder Rick Klausner says they’re more focused on extending quality of life rather than lifespan. Altos hopes “to reverse certain diseases or disabilities, using familiar frameworks for clinical trials that are accepted by regulators and attractive to large drug companies,” Klausner tells MIT.

“There is a lot of room for average life span to increase,” Klausner tells MIT, “and that is essentially the goal of all medicine, whether curing cancer or heart disease.”

More Reading: Are aging and death inevitable? asked Laura Deming at the 2022 BIO International Convention.

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President Biden’s Thursday: Attending a political event in Washington before heading to COP27 in Egypt and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Reuters reports.

What’s Happening on Capitol Hill: Still counting votes. Meanwhile, a POLITICO newsletter yesterday looked at how a divided government would affect health policy.