As the global population continues to increase, so will the demand for timber (and other raw materials) for building, construction, and also for the pulping industry. The high demand for wood and the increasing human population mean that natural forests are being lost and degraded. A potential solution to this problem is to improve the productivity of our plantation forests to relieve the pressure on natural forests in terms of sustainable wood production. This project is the first to use newly available microarray technology to study differential gene expression in cambial tissue of high versus low wood density field grown samples from two contrasting species, Sitka spruce (gymnosperms) and poplar (angiosperms). Genes up-regulated in high-density Sitka spruce and poplar samples had functions in cell formation and expansion, with down-regulated genes having functions in lignin biosynthesis, stress-response and defence. Plantation trees could be screened at a young age to assess their expression of candidate genes to speed up the breeding and selection process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:495790 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Harris, Nicole |
| Contributors | Taylor, Gail |
| Publisher | University of Southampton |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/66349/ |
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