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UPSC Berzelii Research Programme |
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Biotechnology has completely revolutionized research and development for the medical industry. This transformation has now also occurred in agriculture, starting in North America, with more and more industries focusing on the development of the biological raw material.
Next in line are the forest industries. Here, biotechnology might have an even more profound effect since this industry is based on an almost completely unselected biological material, and with a traditionally low focus on the importance of biological knowledge to develop the production and use of wood. This industry is now facing major challenges due to dramatically increased international competition and a large predicted increase in the demand for wood products.
We intend to assist the Swedish forest industries to face this challenge through the formation of the UPSC Centre for Forest Biotechnology (UCFB). Based on the excellent basic research on experimental plant biology and forest biotechnology at the Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) we believe that, with the cooperation of the industry, this centre will serve as a catalyst to help the Swedish forest industries to develop their own research and development to face the challenges of the 21st century through the use of biotechnology, as well as enabling the creation of new companies and industries based on the sustainable production and use of renewable plant raw materials with new and superior properties.
TASK FORCE 1: Tree growth and productivity.
Key questions: Nutrient uptake, regulation of biomass allocation, effects of environmental stresses on growth, balance between root and shoot development, basic processes controlling cell division and growth, somatic embryogenesis.
Applied projects: New fertilizers, enhanced nitrogen uptake, new herbicides, somatic embryogenesis, plantation forestry of elite clones of conifers and hybrid aspen/poplars, conifer, eucalyptus and hybrid aspen/poplar transformations, superior tree seedlings with enhanced productivity.
Participants: Henrik Antti, Lazlo Bako, Catherine Bellini, Rishi Bhalerao, Markus Grebe, Jan Karlsson, Karin Ljung, Thomas Moritz, Ove Nilsson, Annika Nordin, Åsa Strand, Johan Trygg, Gunnar Wingsle.
Within 2 years we will:
- complete the first analysis of biomass enhancements in poplar using transgenic trees with altered carbon partitioning.
- develop a new method for monitoring fluxes of nitrogen compounds in the soil. This method will provide relevant information of which nitrogen compounds that are available for plant uptake
- identify the transporters that are active in root acquisition of organic nitrogen compounds in Arabidopsis and in Populus.
- using poplar as a model tree species, complete the analysis of the role and function of the DREB1 family of transcription factors in the development of freezing tolerance, and the DREB2 family responsible for acquisition of drought tolerance.
- investigate the mechanism controlling the stability of plant RBR (retinoblastoma-related) and cyclin D proteins.
- map and characterize available mutants where the communication between chloroplast and nucleus has been disrupted and conduct in vitro and in planta analyses of the interaction between target proteins and the signalling metabolite Mg-ProtoIX
- make genome-wide transcript and large-scale protein profiling of mutants defective in adventitious root formation and also determine the relative contribution of each candidate gene in the regulation of adventitious root formation.
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Within 10 years we will:
- have established a new paradigm for the nitrogen nutrition of forest trees, defining the role of different nitrogen sources and rates of supply on forest productivity.
- have defined the major drivers of biomass allocation in forest trees.
- have mapped the abiotic stress signalling pathways and stress tolerance in poplar and spruce and have defined their roles in environmental adaptation and phenotypic plasticity of forest species.
- have mapped the cross talk between plastid, light, and stress signalling pathways.
- have optimized the rooting ability of recalcitrant genotypes in order to improve vegetative propagation of superior genotypes of several tree species.
- have optimized conifer somatic embryogenesis (SE) through a better understanding of the role of the RBR and cyclin D proteins during reinitiation of cell division.
From an applied perspective we will have:
After two years: tested how overexpression of various amino acid transporters affect growth of plants supplied with different organic N sources. Developed transformation protocols for elite lines of hybrid aspen and hybrid poplars.
After five years: identified Populus trees with increased allocation to stem growth. These trees will be candidates for new elite lines of trees that under a given nutrient regime show a higher yield index compared to other lines. Established spruce transformation and SE.
After 10 years: identified the optimal organic N fertilizers allowing high growth responses in trees but a minimum of negative environmental effects. We will have tested such fertilizers in large scale and initiated cost-efficient production of the fertilizer. We will have identified and tested elite trees with increased harvest index and increased stress tolerance. We have optimized mass clonal propagation of elite genotypes of Swedish conifer and hardwood species. |
TASK FORCE 2: Wood development and wood quality.
Basic research: Biology of wood formation including the activity of the vascular cambium, xylem fibre elongation, secondary wall formation and cell death.
Applied projects: Development of new superior tree seedlings with enhanced wood qualities.
Participants: Henrik Antti, Lazlo Bako, Catherine Bellini, Rishi Bhalerao, Rosario Garcia-Gil, Markus Grebe, Jan Karlsson, Karin Ljung, Alan Marchant, Ewa Mellerowics, Thomas Moritz, Göran Sandberg, Johan Trygg.
Within 2 years we will:
- determine key genes involved in xylem/phloem differentiation and stem cell identification
- functionally characterize genes involved in the programmed death of xylem
elements and in the control of xylem properties
- determine the function of cell adhesion in controlling wood formation.
- identify metabolic markers across the wood forming zone.
- carry out a FT-IR and anatomical screening of Arabidopsis knock-out mutants and /or over-expressing lines affected in expression of selected Carbohydrate active enzymes and putative regulatory genes that play an essential role in the secondary wall formation in wood fibres.
- determine the involvement of three selected carbohydrate active enzymes and expansins in the regulation of wood cell size and shape in poplar.
- determine the physiological function of ethylene in wood formation using pharmacological and transgenic technologies
- understand pectin/lignin interactions using transgenic poplars altered in pectinmethylesterase activity.
- identify genes involved in tension wood formation using high-resolution expression analysis of tension wood forming tissues.
- identify genes involved in xylem/phloem ratios using genetic mapping RILS and NILS of Arabidopsis ecotypes.
- establish a database for classification of wood phenotypes using FT-IR, MS-Pyrrolysis and NMR combined with chemometric analysis.
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Within 10 years:
- Using selected model systems we have identified master switches in the formation of wood and the genes and enzymes directly responsible for the biosynthesis of wood biopolymers in the secondary wall (particularly cellulose and hemicelluloses). We have also elucidate how different cell wall-modifying enzymes contribute to the regulation of xylem cell size and shape, which is one of key issues in the adaptation of plants to different environments. We will understand how environmental and internal cues act on the wood development and biosynthesis machinery through plant hormones and other signal systems.
From an applied perspective we will have:
After two years: tools of genes and promoters that can be used in tree wood breeding through transgenic engineering or molecular markers.
After five years: control of fibre elongation in trees by targeting gibberellin biosynthesis and signal transduction in the wood formation zone. Identified metabolic markers of fibre length and width for rapid identification of tree with specific fibre characteristic
After 10 years: basic knowledge of secondary wall formation and woodiness trait evolution
will enable us to design renewable raw material for specific purposes, such as for example long/short fibres, lower lignin content, easier lignin extraction, specific carbohydrate composition, fibre surface properties or pulping characteristics. This will create wood fitted for traditional forest products but also for fossil fuels, green chemicals and new polymers. We will use the knowledge of wood biosynthesis, wood chemistry and ultra structure to modify fibres through enzymatic engineering and polymer chemistry. In combination with nanotechnology and biomimicking novel fibre based products will be created.
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TASK FORCE 3: Seasonal and age control of perennial growth and development.
Basic research: Meristem cycling between growth and dormancy, day-length regulation of flowering and growth cessation, juvenility-to-maturity transition including effects on flowering, adventitious root formation and wood formation, regulation of senescence.
Applied research: Superior tree seedlings with an ideal length of the growing period. Early flowering trees as breeding tools, sterile trees for plantations of GM trees, better winter hardiness.
Participants: Henrik Antti, Lazlo Bako, Rishi Bhalerao, Maria Eriksson, Rosario Garcia-Gil, Markus Grebe, Pär Ingvarsson, Thomas Moritz, Ove Nilsson, Göran Sandberg, Björn Sundberg, Johan Trygg.
Within 2 years we will:
- identify the role of PtFT1 in the regulation of the juvenility-to-maturity transition in poplar trees
- determine the mechanism for FT mRNA (florigen?) movement from leaf to shoot apex.
- to understand the connection between the CO/FT pathway and the gibberellin pathway in the regulation of flowering.
- identify metabolite and molecular markers for induction and release from dormancy.
- make a physiological and molecular description of aspen RNAi lines where circadian clock associated genes have been targeted, giving the first functional insights into clock function in seasonal variation in trees
- characterize the role of the CO/FT regulon in the regulation of short-day induced growth cessation in trees.
- characterize the molecular basis for the latitudinal changes in critical day-length between tree provenances.
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Within 10 years:
- complete a map over metabolic changes during induction of dormancy and release from it, in the apex and cambium.
- basic understanding of the underlying properties of the circadian clock in relation to seasonal regulation such as dormancy induction during autumn and growth initiation at spring.
- aspects of how the circadian clock is entrained by light, and perhaps more intriguing by temperature, will be better understood, and refining the knowledge obtained on seasonal regulation. The effect of plant hormones in time setting will be revealed.
- understand the regulation (from photoreceptors via hormone) of growth arrest and bud set
- understand the control of autumn leaf senescence and nutrient remobilization
- understand the control of hardiness development in the autumn
- detailed understanding of the regulation of flowering time in trees, including epigenetic effects on chromatin structure.
From an applied perspective we will have:
After two years: established a functional system for dramatically enhanced poplar breeding using rapid flowering PtFT1-expressing trees. Established the first early flowering spruce trees. Established a set of candidate genes to modulate the timing of dormancy induction and release.
After five years: established techniques to achieve rapid flowering conifers as a functional breeding tool. Analysis of poplar plants with altered timing of dormancy induction and release from dormancy.
After 10 years: The knowledge obtained can be used to optimizing/adjusting growth time and seasonal cycling for an increased production of plant products. This kind of technology could also be used to adjust local crops to a changing climate by adjusting growth season and environmental response schemes. Association mapping and development of markers for selecting trees with desired timing of dormancy induction and release from it.
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