According to University of BC scientists, they have figured out why a certain type of fungus is destroying poplar trees. It was found by the researchers that the fungus, Mycosphaerella populorum, makes use of extra genes to produce a toxin.

As per the researchers, this toxin can cause lethal lesions on the leaves, stems and branches of poplar trees. Through genome sequencing, the researchers were able to found the extra genes. The study has been published the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to lead researcher Richard Hamelin, a forestry professor at UBC, with the help of this finding, it will become possible to develop improved methods to detect the fungus and prevent it from spreading. Hamelin also said that the extra genes might be the result of random events in nature.

Poplar trees in plantations have been threatened by the fungus. The researchers informed that it was not common in BC until an outbreak in 2005 at a poplar plantation in Harrison Mills. Harrison Mills is a farming community west of Agassiz in the Fraser Valley.

The researchers have ecological concerns that fungus will finally jump into native poplar trees, particularly black cottonwoods. The black cottonwoods are found along BC's coast and play an important part in the ecosystem. The black cottonwoods can be beneficial because they improve water quality, prevent erosion and provide wildlife habitat.

"When leaves fall on the ground, a big soup of microbes grows in close proximity, which could lead to gene transfer. It's probably rare, but it appears to be more common than we ever thought”, said Hamelin.