Computer game added to armoury in ash dieback fight

The public are being asked to help in the
fight against ash dieback by playing a
computer game that analyses genetic data
on the disease.
The Facebook game aims to use the power of
social media to find a scientific solution to
protecting ash trees from the Chalara fraxinea
fungus.
Many of the UK's 80m ash trees are
threatened by ash dieback.
Scientists believe some trees may have natural
immunity to Chalara and could be used to
grow resistant forests.
They hope to identify potential woodland
survivors by studying the genetics of British
ash trees.
They are also looking at the genetics of the
fungus to find out more about how it spreads.
'Fun and engrossing'
Dr Joan Webber is principal pathologist and
head of the tree health research group at the
government agency Forest Research.
"The game itself is really helping with building
our picture of what the genome is of ash," she
said.
"And the reason we want to have more
information about that is simply looking for
resistance - looking for resistant individuals or
the genes around resistance to Chalara in our
ash trees."
The Fraxinus game, launched to the public on
Tuesday, challenges players to match
sequences of genetic "letters" represented by
coloured leaf shapes.
This sorts genetic information into matching
sequences and pinpoints genetic variation in
the tree or the fungus.
Experts hope it will give clues to the origins of
the disease, and help identify the best ash
trees to grow in the future.
Dr Dan MacLean, of the John Innes Centre in
Norwich, is the scientist who came up with the
idea.
He told BBC News: "Primarily we designed the
game to be fun and engrossing in and of itself.
"That's where the basic value is for the player
- how we get the most out of it is if people
want to come back to it and play it with their
friends. That it's for a good cause is a bonus."
Prof Allan Downie, also of the John Innes
Centre, said the aim was to harness "people
power" to get cumulative information.
"By getting people in, by matching patterns,
we might be able to identify what the diversity
is of the different individual fungi that are
causing this disease," he said.
Widespread damage
Ash dieback has caused widespread damage to
ash populations in continental Europe, with
losses in Denmark estimated at 60% to 90% of
all ash trees.
However, some trees appear to have survived
attack, raising hopes that these could populate
future woodlands.
UK scientists have sequenced the genome of a
resistant ash tree, as well as a native ash from
England and samples of fungus from infected
trees.
"We can get a fast start on evolution rather
than leaving these trees out there finding a
way to fight the pathogen over decades or
even centuries," said Dr Webber.
The scientists say top gamers may have their
names published in scientific articles for their
role in helping analyse the genetic information.