The genomics of poplar-rust interactions to improve tree resistance against fungal disease

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Poplar represents one of the most productive species for short rotation intensively managed plantations. The trend towards greater intensive forest management will allow us to meet not only our economic needs but also address environmental concerns by allowing us to devote large natural areas to conservation. These gains however will only be realized if we can protect commercial tree cultivation from damaging diseases. With their long life cycle, trees must have accurate mechanisms of sensing microbial invasion and elaborate signalling networks in order to activate the appropriate defence response. With the availability of its whole genome sequence, ease of growth and clonal propagation, and routine transformation, poplar (Populus spp.) is now considered as a model tree species for genomics research. The study of the poplar defense mechanisms during infection with the biotrophic Melampsora rust pathogen holds great potential for the study of tree-microbe interaction at the molecular level. We pursue various approaches to improve our mechanistic understanding of the tree defence response against forest pests. Our work will allow the development of molecular markers for improving efficiency of breeding for resistance in trees and to develop and monitor new biological control methods.