Biomass improvement through genomics in populus

杨属树木非常适合在加拿大地貌上生产生物量。该属包括杨树、白杨、杨树及其杂交种(这里统称为杨树)，它们通常是加拿大森林中的主要阔叶树种，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，杨树作为短轮换纤维作物的部署引起了人们的兴趣，既是一种快速封存碳的手段，也是一种生产生物能源的原料。杨树在这些应用中的效用与人工林中的生物量积累速度直接相关。最近的分析表明，需要适度提高这一产量，以确保杨树人工林是生产用于固碳的生物质的可行选择，更具体地说，是用于生物能源生产。该项目旨在利用杨树可利用的新兴基因组学工具箱来开发工具，以改善生物量积累。该项目将建立一条研究渠道，通过基因组学将基因发现与碳固定联系起来，最终实现生物量的积累。该项目基于最近的数据，这些数据表明杨树生物量的积累与气孔的功能直接正相关，气孔是植物叶片上的动态气孔，允许吸收二氧化碳，同时限制水分损失。该项目将探索这些基因、碳固存和天然和工程杨树生物量积累之间的联系。最终，该项目将开发可用于为合作者的树木改良方案选择树木以改善生物量积累的诊断方法。

Trees of the genus Populus are ideally suited for production of biomass on the Canadian landscape. The genusincludes poplars, cottonwoods, aspens, and their hybrids (herein collectively referred to as poplars), which arefrequently the dominant broad-leaved tree species, and in some regions the only tree species, in Canadianforests. 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 globalclimate change, both as a means by which to rapidly sequester carbon and as a feedstock for bioenergyproduction. The utility of poplars in these applications is directly related to rates of biomass accumulation inplantations. Recent analyses suggest that modest improvements in this yield are required to ensure that poplarplantations 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 forpoplars to develop tools to improve biomass accumulation. The project will establish a research pipeline thatlinks gene discovery via genomics with carbon fixation, and ultimately biomass accumulation. The project isfounded on recent data that show that poplar biomass accumulation is directly, and positively, correlated withthe function of stomata, the dynamic pores on plant leaves that allow the uptake of CO2 while limiting waterloss. The project will explore the link between these genes, carbon sequestration and biomass accumulation innatural and engineered poplar trees. Ultimately, the project will develop diagnostics that can be used to selecttrees for the collaborators tree improvement programmes for the purposes of improving biomass accumulation.