It is native to Australia but has become the world's most widely
planted hardwood tree. The eucalyptus tree is a source of timber,
fuel, cellulose and medicinal and industrial oils, and scientists
are looking to maximize its potential in biofuels.
An international team of researchers this week unveiled the genetic
blueprint of the tree species Eucalyptus grandis and identified
among its 36,000-plus genes the ones involved in critical biological
processes controlling tree growth and wood formation, flowering and
"The main interest is understanding how these trees grow so fast and
how they are able to produce such large amounts of cellulose,"
scientist Zander Myburg of the University of Pretoria's Forestry and
Agricultural Biotechnology Institute said in a telephone interview
"There's an interest in cellulose in the context of breaking the
cellulose down into sugars, which can be fermented into biofuels.
But really these trees are widely used industrially for
cellulose-related products and timber, pulp and paper production."
Also called gum trees, eucalyptus trees have grown for tens of
millions of years across the Australian landscape, and are closely
identified with that continent. The koala, one of Australia's
characteristic marsupials, munches its leaves. Its wood also is used
in making the Australian aboriginal wind instruments called
Eucalyptus trees, with their speedy growth rate and exceptional wood
and fiber properties, are now grown in about 100 countries on six
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Some scientists see great potential in these trees as a biomass
energy crop. The study identified genes controlling the final steps
for the production of cellulose and "hemi-cellulose", both
carbohydrates that can be used for biofuel production.
"We have a keen interest in how wood is formed," added Gerald Tuskan
of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and U.S. Department of Energy
Joint Genome Institute, another of the lead researchers.
"A major determinant of industrial processing efficiency lies in the
composition and cross-linking of biopolymers in the thick secondary
cell walls of woody fibers. Our analysis provides a much more
comprehensive understanding of the genetic control of carbon
allocation towards cell wall biopolymers in woody plants - a crucial
step toward the development of future biomass crops," Tuskan said in
The study was published in the journal Nature.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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