Molecular Regulation of Bioenergy and Bioremediation in Trees

杨树（Populus sp.）在加拿大的每一个省和地区都有发展，由于其在纸浆和造纸工业中的核心作用，长期以来一直是经济的重要组成部分。最近，杨树正在成为第二代生物燃料的重要原料，它们可以提供热量或转化为乙醇等液体燃料。采矿业对加拿大经济也很重要，但在提取贵金属后留下尾矿是一种环境成本。虽然大规模的工程努力主要用于控制大部分受污染的土壤，但总会有大量的残留污染物，可能造成巨大的环境破坏。一些植物和相关真菌具有结合这些重金属的能力，并且将它们稳定在根/真菌网络中，或者将污染物吸收到地上生物质中。杨树根深，与包括丛枝菌根真菌在内的许多有益真菌相关联，并且在清理污染土壤方面显示出巨大的潜力。这项研究计划旨在通过识别负责这些性状的基因，更好地了解杨树如何用于生物能源和生物修复。我们正在使用大量的激活标记杨树来识别控制生物能源或生物修复相关性状的基因。2000条带有激活标签的线位于金斯顿安大略附近的一个大型野外试验中，暴露在加拿大的各种天气中，长到25英尺高。 在过去的10年里，我的实验室已经筛选了不同表型的群体，并发现了超过75个在木材性质，树木结构，叶片形态和抗虫性方面发生变化的标记系。在这项研究计划中，我们将扩大筛选范围，以确定与生物能源相关的表型标记系（木材生物量的质量和数量）和生物修复（根系结构、与有益真菌结合的能力和从土壤中吸收污染物的能力），并充分描述相关基因的特征。了解这些基因的功能将有助于白杨育种者在未来选择用于生物能源或生物修复应用的树木。通过这项研究计划，至少有14名HQP将在植物解剖学，生理学，分子生物学或基因组学领域接受培训，为这些学员提供学术界，工业界或政府工作的宝贵技能。

Poplars (Populus sp.) grow in every province and territory of Canada and have long been an important part of the economy because of their central role in the pulp and paper industry. More recently, poplars are emerging as an important feedstock for second generation biofuels where they can provide energy as heat or converted to liquid fuel such as ethanol. Mining is also important to the Canadian economy but there is an environmental cost when mine tailings are left behind after the precious metals have been extracted. While large-scale engineering endeavours are primarily used to contain most of the contaminated soil, there is always significant residual contamination that can cause tremendous environmental damage. Some plants and associated fungi, have the ability to bind these heavy metals and either stabilize them in the root/fungal network, or uptake the contaminates into the above ground biomass. Poplars have deep roots, associate with many beneficial fungi including arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, and show tremendous potential for cleaning up contaminated soil. This research program seeks to better understand how poplars can be used for bioenergy and bioremediation by identifying genes that are responsible for these traits. We are using a large population of activation-tagged poplars to identify genes that control traits related to bioenergy or bioremediation. The 2000 activation-tagged lines reside in a large field trial near Kingston Ontario, are exposed to the full range of Canadian weather and grow to a height of 25 feet. For the past 10 years, my lab has screened the population for distinct phenotypes and more than 75 tagged lines with alterations in wood properties, tree structure, leaf morphology and pest resistance have been found. For this research program, we will extend the screening to identify tagged lines with phenotypes related to bioenergy (quality and quantity of wood biomass) and bioremediation (root architecture, ability to associate with beneficial fungi and uptake contaminants from the soil), and fully characterize the genes that are responsible. Understanding the function of these genes will help poplar breeders in the future select trees for bioenergy or bioremediation applications. Through this research program, at least 14 HQP will be trained in areas of plant anatomy, physiology, molecular biology or genomics, giving these trainees valuable skills for academia, industry or government jobs.