Add to ORKGThe author would like to express his sincere appreciation to several people. I am very grateful for all the guidance and assistance that I received from Dr. Todd Shupe throughout the duration of the project. Dr. Shupe provided very helpful assistance from collection of the seedlings of Eastern red cedar to data analyses, and I will always be grateful. I would always like to express my gratitude to Dr. Chung Hse for his guidance on experimental design and assistance in experiments. I also appreciate his kind help with my study, life and other aspects. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Niels deHoop for his advice on my experiments and thesis reviewing. Dr. John Jones in the Department of Plant Patholog