Fate of forest tree biotechnology facing climate change

Woody plants have been cultured in vitro since the 1930s. After that time much progress has been made in the culture of tissues, organs, cells, and protoplasts in tree species. Tree biotechnology has been making strides in clonal propagation by organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis. These regeneration studies have paved the way for gene transfer in forest trees. Transgenics from a number of forest tree species carrying a variety of recombinant genes that code for herbicide tolerance, pest resistance, lignin modification, increased woody bio-mass, and flowering control have been produced by Agrobacterium-mediated and biolistic methods, and some of them are undergoing confined field trials. Although relatively stable transgenic clones have been produced by genetic transformation in trees using organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis, there were also unintended unstable genetic events. In order to overcome the problems of randomness of transgene integration and instability reported in Agrobacterium-mediated or biolistically transformed plants, site-specific transgene insertion strategies involving clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR-Cas9) platform offer prospects for precise genome editing in plants. Nevertheless, it is important to monitor phenotypic and genetic stability of clonal material, not just under greenhouse conditions, but also under natural field conditions. Genetically modified poplars have been commercialized in China, and eucalypts and loblolly pine are expected to be released for commercial deployment in USA. Clonal forestry and transgenic forestry have to cope with rapid global climate changes in the future. Climate change is impacting species distributions and is a significant threat to biodiversity. Therefore, it is important to deploy Strategies that will assist the survival and evolution of forest tree species facing rapid climate change. Assisted migration (managed relocation) and biotechnological approaches offer prospects for adaptation of forest trees to climate change.