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Exponential advances in Forest Genetics: the past 25 years and the next 25 weeks

Ronald Sederoff

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KEYNOTE LECTURE PRESENTATION Open Access
Exponential advances in Forest Genetics:
the past 25 years and the next 25 weeks
Ronald Sederoff
From IUFRO Tree Biotechnology Conference 2011: From Genomes to Integration and Delivery
Arraial d’Ajuda, Bahia, Brazil. 26 June - 2 July 2011
A history of Forest Biotechnology will be briefly
reviewed, from the first cloned tree gene, transgenic
trees, DNA markers, genetic maps, QTLs, marker
assisted breeding to genome sequencing. Perspectives of
newer methods and their applications will be discussed,
including integration of genetics and RNA-seq, metabo-
lomics, and proteomics. New applications may be antici-
pated or expected for breeding, vegetative propagation,
phenotypic plasticity, epigenetics, symbiosis, adaptation
to biotic and abiotic stress and the directed evolution of
some forest tree species.
Forest Biotechnology began over 25 years ago with the
advent of new technology of molecular genetics able to
advance the fundamental and applied science of forest
trees. Methods of gene cloning and gene transfer held
the promise of bypassing the long generation times that
made genetic analysis and breeding so difficult. This
vision has come to pass and the presentations of this
meeting show how far we have come. Today, we are
deeply involved in the next generation of genetic tech-
nology, a second revolution, using genomic sciences,
based on the technology and concepts derived from
whole genome sequencing, with the same objective,
advancing the fundamental and applied science of forest
trees.
The path ahead appears to have a third phase, based
on an extension of the genomic paradigm, to systems
biology and predictive modeling, directed to the same
basic goals. Each new phase has been highly integrative,
the first bringing molecular genetics into many tradi-
tional disciplines. The second phase, integrated areas of
molecular and quantitative genetics with high through-
put processing and bioinformatics. What appears to be
the third phase will extend this paradigm to incorporate
the biochemistry of proteomics, the chemistry of
metabolomics and the organization, structure and
dynamics of cell biology and whole plant physiology.
This integrated paradigm further incorporates an engi-
neering perspective and describes the integrated data as
predictive mathematical models, subject to experimental
test and manipulation. Much of this new biology will be
at the interface of biology and systems engineering. Biol-
ogists will learn to think like engineers, and engineers
will learn a lot of biology. In time, the distinctions
between these disciplines may be lost.
What makes a tree a tree? We now know that a rela-
tively small number of genes regulate the woody pheno-
type, because a small combination of gene mutations
can produce a woody form of Arabidopsis. Similarly,
small numbers of genes regulate key aspects of tree dor-
mancy. Much remains to be determined regarding the
control of tree growth and development, and little is
known about the genetic basis of the wide diversity in
morphology, metabolism and adaptation. Beyond the
descriptive understanding of tree phenotypes and their
diversity, lies the evolutionary question, how did the
diversity of trees get to be that way.
Comparative genomics has been a powerful tool to
derive gene function by comparisons of woody and her-
baceous plants, because a large number of functions are
conserved. A major barrier to a broad understanding of
trees and all other plants still lies in the lack of informa-
tion on the function of the majority of plant genes. The
functions of most genes are known only by superficial
annotation based on the time and place of transcript
expression, or response to an external stress. Even for
many genes of presumed known function, we do not
know if that is the only function or the primary func-
tion. Even as more genes are subjected to gain of func-
tion /loss of function tests, interpretation suffers from
effects of redundancy and lethality.
Correspondence: ron_sederoff@ncsu.edu
Forest Biotechnology Group, North Carolina State University, USA
Sederoff BMC Proceedings 2011, 5(Suppl 7):K1
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1753-6561/5/S7/K1
© 2011 Sederoff; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In the near future, genomic scale integration of pro-
cesses at the levels of molecules, cells, tissues and organ-
isms, as part of a systems biology approach, will bring
about progress toward this goal. This goal appears
daunting. One challenge comes from the knowledge of
epistasis, or genetic interactions, that indicate substantial
complexity even for simple traits. QTL analysis provides
a general picture of this complexity, with a frequent
genetic architecture of a small number of genes of large
effects with a larger number of genes with small effects.
Thanks to genomics and computers, the quantitative
effects of a large number of genes may now be studied
at the molecular level as is being done for genomic
selection.
Traditionally, new concepts and technology developed
in model systems see earlier applications in medicine
and agriculture than in forestry. The lag time may be
decreasing. The paradigm for genomics was established
by the human genome project, where the draft sequence
was initiated in 1989 and a first draft released in 2000.
The sequence of Arabidopsis was completed in 2000,
rice in 2002, and the first tree genome, black cotton-
wood, completed in 2006. We see application of new
technology to traditional problems, in some cases with
great success, and in others with great promise.
Only a few years after gene transfer was demonstrated
in model plants, an herbicide resistance gene was
inserted into poplar and a tree regenerated. Deployment
of genetically modified crops has met with resistance,
however, today worldwide; there are about 120 million
hectares of GM crops, with half in the USA. GM trees
are still highly regulated in the US. In China, GM trees
have been widely deployed in the last decade. GM trees
still face substantial resistance in the US and more so in
Europe.
Chestnut serves as an important model for a Geneti-
cally Modified Tree. The prospects of development of a
blight resistant American chestnut appear quite good
based on a combination of backcross breeding; map
based cloning and genetic transformation. A genome
sequence for Chinese chestnut is in progress (Carlson
et al.). The use of gene transfer for chestnut restoration
is compelling because of the high value of the species,
and because GM may be required to restore the species.
The restoration of the American chestnut would have
great value to Appalachian forest ecosystems, as a
resource of high value wood, and potentially for bioe-
nergy. The restoration would serve as an example for
the application of biotechnology and genomics to many
valuable species currently threatened by pests and
pathogens or climate change.
Published: 13 September 2011
doi:10.1186/1753-6561-5-S7-K1
Cite this article as: Sederoff: Exponential advances in Forest Genetics:
the past 25 years and the next 25 weeks. BMC Proceedings 2011 5(Suppl
7):K1.
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Sederoff BMC Proceedings 2011, 5(Suppl 7):K1
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1753-6561/5/S7/K1
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Exponential advances in Forest Genetics: the past 25 years and the next 25 weeks

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