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Special Issue "Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II"

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A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Genetics and Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 October 2023 | Viewed by 4951

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jorge Canhoto

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Guest Editor

Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: plant breeding; plant biotechnology; in vitro culture; genomics; plant anatomy; somatic embryogenesisinterests; plant development; forestry
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Dr. Paloma Moncaleán

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Guest Editor

Department of Forestry Science, NEIKER-BRTA, 01080 Arkaute, Spain
Interests: bioeconomy; in vitro culture; physiology; forestry
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Dr. Sandra Correia

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Guest Editor

Department of Life Sciences, Centre for Functional Ecology, University of Coimbra, Calçada Martim de Freitas, 3000-456 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: plant biotechnology; plant molecular biology; plant stress biology; proteomics; transcriptomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Trees are dominant species in many land ecosystems, and their economic relevance is well known, not only for the production of wood and other products, but also because they deliver a variety of ecosystem services, including temperature regulation, mitigation of soil erosion, and the management and filtering of rainwater, and because they are habitats for other organisms. Due to their long reproductive and life cycles, trees require specific strategies for breeding and large-scale propagation. In recent years, biotechnology has assumed an increasingly important role in tree breeding and cloning through the application of techniques such as somatic embryogenesis, propagation in bioreactors, genetic transformation, proteomics, genomics, and production of synthetic seeds, among many others. Based on these tools, improved trees displaying new features are now in the field ensuring higher productivities and helping to preserve natural forests while contributing to fixing CO₂ and to avoiding desertification, both from an ecological and human perspective. This Special Issue invites works from researchers and other stakeholders on the latest developments in the field of tree biotechnology. Those interested in tree biotechnology are welcome to collaborate and share their more recent results in this field.

Dr. Jorge Canhoto
Dr. Paloma Moncaleán
Dr. Sandra Correia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

acclimatization
bioreactors
breeding
cloning
genetic transformation
in vitro
molecular biology
omics
rooting

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Photosynthetic Efficiency for Increased Carbon Assimilation and Woody Biomass Production in Engineered Hybrid Poplar

Damaris Godinez-Vidal

Martha L. Orozco-Cardenas

and

Madeline E. Hall

Forests 2023, 14(4), 827; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14040827 - 18 Apr 2023

Viewed by 802

Abstract

Increasing CO₂ levels in the atmosphere and the resulting negative impacts of climate change have compelled global efforts to achieve carbon neutrality or negativity. Most such efforts focus on carbon sequestration through chemical or physical approaches. Harnessing the power of synthetic biology to enhance the natural ability of carbon sequestration in plants, especially non-annuals, provides a biological approach to further reduce CO₂ levels in the air. Here, we selected a photorespiration bypass pathway and tested its effectiveness on photosynthetic enhancement in a hybrid poplar, INRA717-IB4. The design includes an RNAi strategy to reduce the transportation of the photorespiration byproduct, glycolate, out of chloroplast and a shunt pathway to metabolize the retained glycolate back to CO₂ for fixation through the Calvin-Benson cycle. Molecular and physiological data collected from two separate growth experiments indicate that transgenic plants expressing genes in the photorespiration bypass pathway have increased photosynthetic efficiency, leading to faster plant growth and elevated biomass production. One lead transgenic event accumulated 35%–53% more above-ground dry biomass over four months of growth in a controlled environment. Our results provide a proof of concept for engineering trees to help combat climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II)

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Open AccessArticle

Efficient Virus-Induced Gene Silencing in Ilex dabieshanensis Using Tobacco Rattle Virus

and

Forests 2023, 14(3), 488; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14030488 - 28 Feb 2023

Viewed by 611

Abstract

Ilex dabieshanensis is not only an important ornamental plant, but can also be used to produce Kuding tea, owing to its lipid-lowering and anti-inflammatory medicinal properties. The genetic transformation of I. dabieshanensis is currently difficult, which restricts functional gene studies and molecular breeding research on this species. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a powerful tool for determining gene functions in plants. The present study reports the first application of VIGS mediated by a tobacco rattle virus (TRV) vector in I. dabieshanensis. We tested the efficiency of the VIGS system to silence Mg-chelatase H subunit (ChlH) gene through agroinfiltration. The agroinfiltrated leaves of I. dabieshanensis exhibited a typical yellow-leaf phenotype of ChlH gene silencing at 21 days post infiltration. Endogenous ChlH expression levels in the leaves of yellow-leaf phenotype plants were all significantly lower than that in the leaves of mock-infected and control plants. Overall, our results indicated that the TRV-based VIGS system can efficiently silence genes in I. dabieshanensis, and this system will contribute to efficient functional genomics research in I. dabieshanensis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II)

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Open AccessArticle

Effects of Polyploidy on Physiological Performance of Acclimatized Solanum betaceum Cav. Plants under Water Deficit

and

Forests 2023, 14(2), 208; https://doi.org/10.3390/f14020208 - 21 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 726

Abstract

The urgent need to identify stress-tolerant genotypes and understand their inherent genetic plasticity is one of the major targets of research and breeding programs. Species that are cultivated in areas that are prone to drought need to be able to tolerate water stress (WS) while still displaying features that are economically valuable. Tamarillo (Solanum betaceum) is a solanaceous fruit crop with increasing agronomic interest due to the nutritional properties of its edible fruits and its biotechnological potential. Several protocols have been established for the in vitro culture of this species and controlled hybridization, as well as for the induction of tetraploidy. Nevertheless, the impact of WS on S. betaceum performance has been poorly studied, and nothing is known about the role of ploidy status on this response. Since no morphological differences were noticed between diploids and tetraploids at the end of the acclimatization period, we hypothesized that ploidy level may have a role in plant drought responses. Thus, micropropagated and acclimatized tamarillo diploid (2n = 2x = 24) and tetraploid (4n = 4x = 48) plants were exposed to WS, and several physiological parameters were evaluated, such as plant growth, water potential, photosynthetic performance, sugars, proline, and MDA levels. Water stress did not affect plant growth in both diploids and tetraploids, but it induced stomatal closure and reduced the net CO₂ assimilation rate. Water stress also reduced the photosynthetic efficiency of PSII, but no differences were found in the total chlorophyll content. From all the parameters analyzed, tetraploid plants showed a better response under water shortage conditions when considering water potential (WP). Metabolite analysis indicated no significant differences in the accumulation of soluble sugars and MDA in WS plants but a significant increase in proline accumulation in diploids exposed to WS. These observed differences in parameters such as WP and proline accumulation point to mechanisms of osmoregulation and stress signaling that differ between diploid and tetraploid plants, particularly in WS conditions, demonstrating that tetraploids can adapt better to water shortage conditions than their diploid counterparts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II)

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Open AccessArticle

Machine Learning-Assisted In Vitro Rooting Optimization in Passiflora caerulea

Marziyeh Jafari

Mohammad Hosein Daneshvar

Sahar Jafari

and

Mohsen Hesami

Forests 2022, 13(12), 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13122020 - 29 Nov 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 860

Abstract

In vitro rooting as one of the most critical steps of micropropagation is affected by various extrinsic (e.g., medium composition, auxins) and intrinsic factors (e.g., species, explant). In Passiflora species, in vitro adventitious rooting is a difficult, complex, and non-linear process. Since in vitro rooting is a multivariable complex biological process, efficient and reliable computational approaches such as machine learning (ML) are required to model, predict, and optimize this non-linear biological process. Therefore, in the current study, a hybrid of generalized regression neural network (GRNN) and genetic algorithm (GA) was employed to predict in vitro rooting responses (rooting percentage, number of roots, and root length) of Passiflora caerulea based on the optimization of the level of auxins (indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), indolebutyric acid (IBA), and 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA)) and the type of explant (microshoots derived from leaf, node, and internode). Based on the results, the GRNN model was accurate in predicting all in vitro rooting responses of P. caerulea (R² > 0.92) in either training or testing sets. The result of the validation experiment also showed that there was a negligible difference between the predicted-optimized values and the validated results demonstrating the reliability of the developed GRNN-GA model. Generally, the results of the current study showed that GRNN-GA is a reliable and accurate model to predict and optimize in vitro rooting of P. caerulea. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II)

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Open AccessArticle

Localization of TWISTED NEEDLES Locus on Linkage Map of Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don)

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Forests 2022, 13(9), 1524; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13091524 - 19 Sep 2022

Viewed by 842

Abstract

Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) is an important forestry species in Japan. C. japonica ‘Spiralis’ is a mutant with twisted needles. The mutant is called Yore-sugi in Japan and is known as ‘Rasen’ in other countries. The twisted trait is regulated by a dominant gene called TWISTED NEEDLES, and it can be identified by observing the needles within 1 to 2 months after germination. The TWISTED NEEDLES gene may be useful for improving the efficiency of genome editing technology in C. japonica. In this study, we attempted to identify the linkage group of the TWISTED NEEDLES locus and investigate markers that sandwich this locus using the mapping family. First, we identified the linkage group containing the TWISTED NEEDLES locus based on the distortion from the expected segregation ratio using 32 mutant individuals of the mapping family. The segregation distortion showed that the TWISTED NEEDLES locus was located on the 11th linkage group (LG11). Next, a linkage map of LG11 was constructed based on genotype data from the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and double digested restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (ddRAD-seq) using 123 individuals of the MMY-1 family. On this map, six markers were located at the same position as the TWISTED NEEDLES locus. To investigate markers sandwiching the TWISTED NEEDLES locus, a partial linkage map around the TWISTED NEEDLES locus was constructed using 643 individuals of the MMY-1 family. The TWISTED NEEDLES locus was located in the 0.6 cM region between gSNP01822 and the other five markers (Contig_4705-179, Contig_4518-93, Contig_4398-118, gSNP04056, and Contig_4970-113). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II)

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Open AccessArticle

Influence of Physico-Chemical Factors on the Efficiency and Metabolite Profile of Adult Pinus radiata D. Don Bud Organogenesis

Alejandra Rojas-Vargas

Ander Castander-Olarieta

Itziar A. Montalbán

and

Paloma Moncaleán

Forests 2022, 13(9), 1455; https://doi.org/10.3390/f13091455 - 10 Sep 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 644

Abstract

Genetic improvement programs for conifer forest species face the challenge of propagating elite individuals with superior characteristics in the present landscape of climate change; the problem is focused on the fact that when these individuals have shown the desirable traits, they have changed phase and therefore have lost the ability to be propagated by traditional methods. Based on our previous works on Pinus spp. regeneration of adult trees through organogenesis and trying to improve the protocol in Pinus radiata, our objective was to analyze the influence of collection dates and different 6-benzyladenine (BA) concentrations in the first phase of shoot induction, as well as the effect of different light types on the success of root induction. Moreover, we were interested in studying the effect of the abovementioned physico-chemical factors on the amino acid and carbohydrate content in the shoots developed in vitro. Reinvigorated shoots were obtained in both BA concentrations (22 or 44 μM), although the highest BA concentration showed the best results in terms of shoot induction (explants forming shoots (46%) and number of shoots per explant (1.95 ± 0.52)) when using initial explants collected in the first week of February. The percentage of explants forming shoots (EFS) was genotype-dependent. Explants from genotype A induced with the highest BA concentration showed the highest EFS (91%). With respect to the light treatment applied, significant differences in root induction (20%) and in the number of roots per explant (4.62 ± 0.65) were observed in shoots cultured under white FL. Finally, significant differences in different phases of the rooting process were detected in the amounts of fructose, glucose and sucrose and in the content of threonine and tyrosine. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II)

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Special Issue "Application of Biotechnology Techniques on Tree Species—Series II"

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