Editing Dutch elm disease (section)

===== United Kingdom =====
Much of the work in the United Kingdom is by the Forestry Commission's research arm, which has had Dutch elm disease on its agenda since the 1920s.  In 1994 a Research Information Note (no 252) was published, written by John Gibbs, Clive Brasier and Joan Webber, and in 2010 a Pathology Advisory Note, as well as throughout the period a stream of more academic papers: notable results have been the observation that the progress of the disease through Scotland has been quite slow, and that genetic engineering has been tried to improve the resistance of the [[English elm]].

In England the [[Conservation Foundation, UK|Conservation Foundation]] had been propagating, distributing and planting clones of surviving indigenous elms, including field elms (but not the highly susceptible [[English elm]]), as part of a scheme to return elms to city and countryside.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150109162043/http://www.conservationfoundation.co.uk/content.php?id=178 Fifteen source-trees in England cloned for the Conservation Foundation's 'Great British Elm Experiment'; conservationfoundation.co.uk]</ref><ref>[https://conservationfoundation.co.uk/the-great-british-elm-experiment-update/ Update on new clones in the Conservation Foundation's 'Great British Elm Experiment'; conservationfoundation.co.uk/the-great-british-elm-experiment-update]</ref><ref>{{cite web | title="Super tree" from Northamptonshire helping to fight Dutch Elm Disease and repopulate woodlands | website=northamptonchron.co.uk | url=http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/super-tree-from-northamptonshire-helping-to-fight-dutch-elm-disease-and-repopulate-woodlands-1-5685342 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305165821/http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/local/super-tree-from-northamptonshire-helping-to-fight-dutch-elm-disease-and-repopulate-woodlands-1-5685342 | archive-date=2016-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.conservationfoundation.co.uk/news_article.php?id=251 |title='Young elms return to London', conservationfoundation.co.uk |access-date=2013-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202223517/http://www.conservationfoundation.co.uk/news_article.php?id=251 |archive-date=2013-12-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Foundation was running two elm programmes: the 'Great British Elm Experiment' and 'Ulmus londinium', an elm programme for London – these use saplings cultivated through micropropagation from mature parent elms found growing in the British countryside: parent trees are monitored for disease, while saplings were offered free to schools and community groups, who are asked to monitor their trees' progress on the Foundation's online elm map; in London, places with 'elm' in their name were offered a sapling – in an attempt to find out why some elms have survived while others succumbed to Dutch elm disease. Both these projects have been discontinued.

The spread of DED to Scotland has focussed attention on a small number of wych elms [[Ulmus glabra|''U. glabra'']] surviving in areas of high infectivity, prompting the [[Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh]] to begin a programme of selecting trees, with a view to determining innate resistance (2009).<ref>Coleman, Max, ed.: ''Wych Elm'' (Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, 2009; ISBN 978-1-906129-21-7), p.76</ref> The Garden is raising and distributing in Scotland seedlings derived from controlled crosses of rare survivors in these areas (2023).<ref>Russell Blackstock, ''[[The Sunday Post]]'' (Dundee), 6 August 2023, p.8</ref><ref>[https://stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/37449 'Scottish Plant Recovery: Next gen elms', Botanics Stories (RBGE Personal & Project Stories), stories.rbge]</ref><ref>[https://www.futurewoodlands.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-RBGE-Elm-Report.pdf Clarkson, R. & Coleman, M. (2022)] 'Propagating healthy mature elms that have survived in areas severely impacted by Dutch elm disease: a scoping study for a wych elm project in Scotland.' Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.</ref>

In 2001–2004, English elm [[Ulmus minor 'Atinia'|''U. minor'' 'Atinia']] was genetically engineered to resist disease, in experiments at [[Abertay University]], [[Dundee]], [[Scotland]], by transferring antifungal genes into the elm genome using minute DNA-coated ball bearings.<ref>[http://www.unisci.com/stories/20013/0828015.htm 'First Genetically Modified Dutch Elm Trees Grown', unisci.com]</ref><ref>[http://www.resistantelms.co.uk/faqs/ resistantelms.co.uk, FAQ 'Disease Control']</ref> However, owing to reservations to GM developments, there are no plans to release the trees into the countryside.