Molecular control of carbon sequestration into wood

Trees represent the single most important terrestrial carbon sink on the planet.

An incomplete understanding of carbon sequestration into wood limits our ability to predict the capacity of forests to assimilate CO2, and how climate change will impact forest ecosystems.

To address this knowledge gap, this project will investigate the molecular mechanisms of carbon sequestration into wood.

The specific aim is to identify transcription factors coordinating the key metabolic pathways during wood formation, elucidate the role of sugars in defining wood properties, and identify candidate molecules mediating communication between leaves and the developing wood. The project is designed as a four-year postdoc project supported by MSc thesis students.

Hybrid aspen (Populus tremula x tremuloides) will be used as the experimental model tree for its ease of genetic transformation and available genomics resources.

The planned experiments are using state-of-the-art molecular biology methods including CRISPR-cas9 and RNAi tools, yeast-1-hybrid screening, DNA affinity purification sequencing, reverse chromatin immunoprecipitation, mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and proteomics, and the sophisticated wood and tree phenotyping tools at the Umeå Plant Science Centre.