Emerging model systems in plant biology:: Poplar (Populus) as a model forest tree

Forest trees have tremendous economic and ecological value, as well as unique biological properties of basic scientific interest. The inherent difficulties of experimenting on very large long-lived organisms motivates the development of a model system fur forest trees. Populus (poplars, cottonwoods, aspens) has several advantages as a model system, including rapid growth, prolific sexual reproduction, ease of cloning, small genome, facile transgenesis, and tight coupling between physiological traits and biomass productivity. A combination of genetics and physiology is being used to understand the detailed mechanisms of forest tree growth and development.