Sex-related differences in growth and carbon allocation to defence in Populus tremula as explained by current plant defence theories

Interactive effects of supplemental UV-B and temperature in European aspen seedlings: Implications for growth, leaf traits, phenolic defense and associated organisms

Past studies reveal opposite effects of elevated UV-B and temperature on plant growth and concentrations of UV-B absorbing compounds, yet few studies have dealt with the combined and interactive effects of these two climate change factors on woody dioecious plants. We investigated the interactive effects of UV-B and temperature treatments on growth, leaf traits and phenolic concentrations in Populus tremula L. (European aspen) seedlings. We also considered the consequences of these effects on their associated organisms: herbivorous insects, rust pathogens, the presence of endophytic fungi and whether or not the responses differ between genders and genotypes. Supplemental temperature and UV-B were modulated to +2 °C and +30.77% above ambient conditions, respectively. Warming increased growth, photosynthesis and foliar nitrogen concentration but reduced leaf thickness and phenolic concentrations. On the other hand, supplemental UV-B increased total phenolic glycosides, mainly flavonols and phenolic acids, and partially counteracted the positive effects of warming on growth. Fast growing genotypes were less susceptible to the growth-reducing effect of combined UVB + T, less infected with rust disease and less prone to insect damage probably due to their higher salicylate and lower nitrogen concentrations. Under ambient temperature, the males of European aspen were taller and had bigger leaves than the females, while under elevated temperature, females grew bigger and, under UV-B, had more tremulacin than males. The multiple interactive effects of UV-B and temperature on growth, leaf traits and phenolic compounds, highlight the importance of multifactor experiments as a realistic predictor of plant responses to climate change.

Forest biorefinery: Potential of poplar phytochemicals as value-added co-products

The global forestry industry after experiencing a market downturn during the past decade has now aimed its vision towards the integrated biorefinery. New business models and strategies are constantly being explored to re-invent the global wood and pulp/paper industry through sustainable resource exploitation. The goal is to produce diversified, innovative and revenue generating product lines using on-site bioresources (wood and tree residues). The most popular product lines are generally produced from wood fibers (biofuels, pulp/paper, biomaterials, and bio/chemicals). However, the bark and other tree residues like foliage that constitute forest wastes, still remain largely an underexploited resource from which extractives and phytochemicals can be harnessed as by-products (biopharmaceuticals, food additives and nutraceuticals, biopesticides, cosmetics). Commercially, Populus (poplar) tree species including hybrid varieties are cultivated as a fast growing bioenergy crop, but can also be utilized to produce bio-based chemicals. This review identifies and underlines the potential of natural products (phytochemicals) from Populus species that could lead to new business ventures in biorefineries and contribute to the bioeconomy. In brief, this review highlights the importance of by-products/co-products in forest industries, methods that can be employed to extract and purify poplar phytochemicals, the potential pharmaceutical and other uses of >160 phytochemicals identified from poplar species - their chemical structures, properties and bioactivities, the challenges and limitations of utilizing poplar phytochemicals, and potential commercial opportunities. Finally, the overall discussion and conclusion are made considering the recent biotechnological advances in phytochemical research to indicate the areas for future commercial applications from poplar tree species.

Populus tremula (European aspen) shows no evidence of sexual dimorphism

BACKGROUND

Evolutionary theory suggests that males and females may evolve sexually dimorphic phenotypic and biochemical traits concordant with each sex having different optimal strategies of resource investment to maximise reproductive success and fitness. Such sexual dimorphism would result in sex biased gene expression patterns in non-floral organs for autosomal genes associated with the control and development of such phenotypic traits.

RESULTS

We examined morphological, biochemical and herbivory traits to test for sexually dimorphic resource allocation strategies within collections of sexually mature and immature Populus tremula (European aspen) trees. In addition we profiled gene expression in mature leaves of sexually mature wild trees using whole-genome oligonucleotide microarrays and RNA-Sequencing.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no evidence of sexual dimorphism or differential resource investment strategies between males and females in either sexually immature or mature trees. Similarly, single-gene differential expression and machine learning approaches revealed no evidence of large-scale sex biased gene expression. However, two significantly differentially expressed genes were identified from the RNA-Seq data, one of which is a robust diagnostic marker of sex in P. tremula.