Biomass improvement through genomics in populus

杨树属的树木非常适合生产加拿大景观上的生物质。该属包括杨树、杨树、白杨和它们的杂种（这里统称为杨树），它们通常是加拿大森林中主要的阔叶树种，在某些地区是唯一的树种。杨树在加拿大被广泛用于生产纸浆和工程实木产品。最近，在全球气候变化的背景下，杨树作为短期轮作纤维作物的部署引起了人们的兴趣，既可以作为快速固碳的手段，也可以作为生物能源生产的原料。杨树在这些应用中的效用与人工林生物量积累速率直接相关。最近的分析表明，这一产量需要适度提高，以确保杨树种植园是生产用于碳封存的生物质的可行选择，更具体地说，是用于生物能源生产的可行选择。该项目旨在利用新兴的基因组工具箱，为杨树开发提高生物量积累的工具。该项目将建立一条研究管道，将基因组学中的基因发现与碳固定以及最终的生物量积累联系起来。该项目建立在最近的数据基础上，这些数据表明，杨树的生物量积累与气孔的功能直接且正相关，气孔是植物叶片上的动态气孔，可以吸收二氧化碳，同时限制水分流失。该项目将探索这些基因、天然和工程杨树的碳封存和生物量积累之间的联系。最后，该项目将发展诊断方法，可用于为合作者的树木改善方案选择树木，以改善生物量积累。

Trees of the genus Populus are ideally suited for production of biomass on the Canadian landscape.  The genus includes poplars, cottonwoods, aspens, and their hybrids (herein collectively referred to as poplars), which are frequently the dominant broad-leaved tree species, and in some regions the only tree species, in Canadian forests. Poplars are used widely in Canada for production of pulp and engineered solid wood products. Recently, the deployment of poplars as short rotation fibre crops has been of interest in the context of global climate change, both as a means by which to rapidly sequester carbon and as a feedstock for bioenergy production. The utility of poplars in these applications is directly related to rates of biomass accumulation in plantations.  Recent analyses suggest that modest improvements in this yield are required to ensure that poplar plantations are a viable option for the production of biomass for carbon sequestration, and, more specifically, for bioenergy production. This project aims to leverage the burgeoning genomics toolbox that is available for poplars to develop tools to improve biomass accumulation.  The project will establish a research pipeline that links gene discovery via genomics with carbon fixation, and ultimately biomass accumulation.  The project is founded on recent data that show that poplar biomass accumulation is directly, and positively, correlated with the function of stomata, the dynamic pores on plant leaves that allow the uptake of CO2 while limiting water loss.  The project will explore the link between these genes, carbon sequestration and biomass accumulation in natural and engineered poplar trees.  Ultimately, the project will develop diagnostics that can be used to select trees for the collaborators tree improvement programmes for the purposes of improving biomass accumulation.