A research project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, with the involvement of Dr Carlos Trujillo-Moya (Federal Research Centre for Forests) and Dr Andrea Ganthaler (University of Innsbruck), decoded the response of Norway spruce (Picea abies) to infection by the rust fungus Chrysomyxa rhododendri.

The fungus poses a serious threat to high-altitude forests in the Alps, as it severely affects the growth and regeneration of important protective forests. The study was able to show for the first time that Norway spruce defends itself against the fungus using what is known as a "hypersensitive response".

The finding represents an important milestone for future reforestation with resistant plant material and for maintaining healthy and stable high-altitude forests.

The full press release and images can be found here: https://bfw.ac.at/rz/bfwcms.web?dok=11482

More on this at: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53805399 and https://www.bbc.com/news/science_and_environment

National Geographic has also written about it: https://www.nationalgeographic.com.es/naturaleza/abetos-pie-guerra-alpes-hongo-roya_15547

The original paper was published in the scientific journal BMC Genomics: https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-020-6587-z