Wood growth doubled with gene transfer

Researchers have for several years searched for ways to improve the quality of wood material and accelerate the growth of trees. Researchers in North America developed a transgenic tree already a few years ago, the lignin of which breaks down easily. An Israeli company has developed eucalyptus trees, which grow up even five metres per year and produce one fifth more wood material than ordinary ones.

In autumn 2016, a research team from Helsinki and Cambridge universities, together with researchers from the Natural Resources Institute Finland, succeeded in creating an aspen that produces as much as 80 percent more biomass per growing season, compared to ordinary aspens, under ideal research conditions. The almost doubled growth rate was achieved by modifying certain genes in the cambium of the tree.

Horizontal growth of a tree takes place in the cambium, which is just below the bark of thr tree. The cambium of the Czech hybrid aspen began to produce more than normal amounts of a hormone called cytokinin with the help of transgenes. Cytokinin increases cell division, or cytokinesis, and thus the growth of the trunk as well.

The research will be continued outside with transgenic hybrid aspen suitable for Finnish weather conditions. Additional results from field tests can be expected after a few numbers of growing seasons.

How did you like the article?

Share:

Write a comment

Privacy Overview
Forest News logo

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. You can change the cookie settings below.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

User count and analytics

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.