Prospection and impact analysis of Eucalyptus candidate genes with industrial purposes in model organism (Arabidopsis thaliana).

• Grant number: 12/21666-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: May 01, 2013
• End date: June 15, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães Pereira
• Grantee: Marcela Mendes Salazar
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Eucalyptus plantations provide forest biomass for the most varied industrial applications, as wood, paper, pulp and energy. Given the economic importance of Eucalyptus, it becomes increasingly essential to the generation of trees with superior silvicultural characteristics. So, the challenge for forest sector industries is accelerating genetic breeding programs, maintaining productivity and quality of products in short periods. Transgenic trees present an alternative to classical breeding programs, currently used nowadays, since it allows to insert genes that control important characteristics in clones that already have been genetically improved. To select such genes, the forest sector invests in research and development, mainly in the generation of molecular data related to wood formation and other silvicultural characteristics. The molecular information generated for Eucalyptus contain a large set of genes with potential to be selected and applied in breeding programs, especially by transgenic way, and provide means to search and understand the molecular responses underlining important economical traits. Within this context, the goal of the present project is identify genes with potential to generate Eucalyptus with superior silvicultural characteristics. The gene expression results generated by RNAseq will be used to guide the cloning of key genes and functional analysis in a model organism (Arabidopsis thaliana), with special emphasis on wood quality and formation.