This research investigated how a cold-loving fungus that causes snow blight disease in pine trees can survive and thrive in freezing temperatures. Scientists sequenced the fungus’s complete genetic code and studied the chemicals it produces at different temperatures. The study revealed that the fungus has special adaptations that allow it to grow under snow and kill tree needles in winter conditions. Impacts on everyday life: • Helps understand how plant diseases survive winter, which is important for forest management and tree farming • Could lead to new cold-resistant technologies based on the fungus’s survival strategies • May help develop better methods to protect young trees in nurseries from winter diseases • Provides insights for developing cold-adapted industrial enzymes • Could contribute to understanding how climate change might affect forest diseases