Since the first report on transformation of Bt gene into Populus nigra was published in 1989, transgenic approaches have been widely used in breeding trees for high tolerance to insects and environmental stresses in China. Notably, field testing of the transgenic poplar with Bt was performed in 1994 and permitted to be commercialized as the first commercialized transgenic tree in the world. Up ...

Xylem extracts of poplar tree contained glyoxylate reductase specific for NADPH. By isoelectric focusing in the pH ranges 3.5 to 10 or 4 to 6, the enzyme exhibited a single peak of activity at pH 5.4. The enzyme showed essentially no activity toward hydroxypyruvate, pyruvate, or NADH. The reaction was optimal at pH 6.0 in phosphate buffer and the activity profile exhibited a sharp and narrow pH...

This study aimed to compare the hydraulic characteristics of different vitalities of Populus euphratica to reveal the differences in their water use strategies and water consumption to provide useful data to scale water use of riparian poplar forests in the lower reaches of the Tarim River, Northwestern China. Our results showed that the sapwood area of P. euphratica could be estimated based on...

by Steven H. Strauss, Stephen P. DiFazio and Richard Meilan Poplars (genus Populus) have emerged as a model organism for forest biotechnology, and genetic modification (GM: asexual gene transfer) is more advanced for this genus than for any other tree. The goal of this paper is to consider the benefits expected from the use of GM poplar trees, and the most significant claims made for environmen...

Short day length-induced alteration of potassium (K) localization in perennial trees is believed to be a mechanism for surviving and adapting to severe winters. To investigate the relationship between cesium (Cs) and K localizations, a model tree poplar, hybrid aspen T89, was employed. Under short day length conditions, the amount of 137Cs absorbed through the root and translocated to the root ...

In this study, the impact bending strengths and specific impact bending strengths were determined for solid wood and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) produced from eucalyptus (Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maiden), poplar (Populus x euramericana I-214), and beech (Fagus orientalis L.) woods using urea formaldehyde (UF), melamine urea formaldehyde (MUF), and phenol formaldehyde (PF) adhesives. The ...

Xylan is the second most abundant polysaccharide in dicot wood. Unraveling the biosynthetic pathway of xylan is important not only for our understanding of the process of wood formation but also for our rational engineering of wood for biofuel production. Although several glycosyltransferases are implicated in glucuronoxylan (GX) biosynthesis in Arabidopsis, whether their close orthologs in woo...

Some of the most damaging tree pathogens can attack woody stems, causing lesions (cankers) that may be lethal. To identify the genomic determinants of wood colonization leading to canker formation, we sequenced the genomes of the poplar canker pathogen, Mycosphaerella populorum, and the closely related poplar leaf pathogen, M. populicola. A secondary metabolite cluster unique to M. populorum is...