From source to sink - carbon allocation in poplar

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Like all plants, trees constantly monitor endogenous and environmental cues, and use this information to make adjustments in resource allocation, both to maximize resource acquisition and to minimize exposure to deleterious phenomena. To accomplish this, trees/plants possess mechanisms that integrate and interpret the information provided by internal and environmental signals. Ultimately, these phenomena are controlled at the level of gene expression, which consequently manifests the accumulation of a variety of soluble metabolites, including carbohydrates. A thorough understanding of the intricacies of the biosynthetic processes governing sucrose biosynthesis (catabolism and anabolism) throughout the life cycle of trees is pivotal to understanding programmed cellular growth patterns, response(s) to environmental cues, the ability to withstand environmental stresses (biotic and abiotic), and the complex network and regulatory frameworks fundamental to the development of cell wall (morphology, ultrastructure and chemistry). This research project will attempt to elucidate the control mechanisms that underpin the synthesis and fate (i.e. allocation and partitioning) of sucrose in trees, specifically Populus. This objective will be achieved by employing a long-term, mechanistic functional genomics investigation of sucrose metabolism, combining parallel biochemical (metabolite profiling) and molecular (transcriptional regulation) studies aimed at elucidating the key metabolites and genes modulating carbohydrate metabolism. The complexities (accumulation, degradation, and tissue specific localization) of "resource allocation", including sucrose biosynthesis and translocation, the generation of starch (including its mobilization), and the biosynthesis of oligomeric carbohydrates (i.e. raffinose, stachyose) will be investigated in Populus, employing an array of functional genomics techniques coupled with traditional cell wall biochemistry.