Phylogeography English elm is a 2,000-year-old Roman clone

The outbreak of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s ravaged European elm populations, killing more than 25 million trees in Britain alone; the greatest impact was on Ulmus procera, otherwise known as the English elm. Here we use molecular and historical information to show that this elm derives from a si...

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Published inNature Vol. 431; no. 7012; p. 1053
Main Authors Gil, Luis, Fuentes-Utrilla, Pablo, Soto, Álvaro, Cervera, M. Teresa, Collada, Carmen
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Nature Publishing Group 28.10.2004
Subjects
DNA, Chloroplast - genetics
Europe
Geography
Haplotypes - genetics
Phylogeny
Plant Diseases - genetics
Plant Diseases - statistics & numerical data
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Roman World
Time Factors
Ulmus - genetics
Ulmus procera
United Kingdom
Italy
British Isles
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Summary:The outbreak of Dutch elm disease in the 1970s ravaged European elm populations, killing more than 25 million trees in Britain alone; the greatest impact was on Ulmus procera, otherwise known as the English elm. Here we use molecular and historical information to show that this elm derives from a single clone that the Romans transported from Italy to the Iberian peninsula, and from there to Britain, for the purpose of supporting and training vines. Its highly efficient vegetative reproduction and its inability to set seeds have preserved this clone unaltered for 2,000 years as the core of the English elm population - and the preponderance of this susceptible variety may have favoured a rapid spread of the disease.
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ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/4311053a