Objective
The proposal addresses section 1.3 'The Forestry-Wood Chain'. It aims to 'enhance the fibrous and mechanical properties of wood' (1.3.1.2) by improving control over wood properties, enabling them to be matched to enduser requirements. It will contribute to improved productivity of an increasingly important species (poplar) for the European pulp and paper industry ( 1.3 .1.1) and to improved forest management and harvesting systems by providing a basis for genetic transformation of trees to ensure efficient use of forest land (1.3.1.3). This will lead to increased competitiveness and economic benefits for European tree growers and industrial users. Hybrid aspen ( Populus tremula x tremuloïdes) will be used as a model system to obtain a better understanding of fundamental wood formation processes.This represents an innovative approach to the study of plant cell differentiation, which has hitherto largely concentrated on non-woody species. It will establish generic principles for use in genetic engineering of other tree species and provide a base for a programme of genetic modification to produce 'designer' trees, with wood matched to end-users' specific requirements.
The work is timely because there is increasing demand for uniform raw material of high quality from the wood processing industries, coupled with a decrease in supply from natural forests. There is also pressure on the forest industry to grow native hardwoods rather than exotic softwoods, since the latter are now regarded as aesthetically unattractive and environmentally damaging. Improving the productivity, uniformity and quality of hardwoods will reduce processing costs and wastage for industrial users, in particular, it will reduce energy requirements, and by increased utilisation of raw material will reduce pollution (mainly by reducing water requirements in processing). Better financial returns from trees with modified characteristics will encourage landowners to establish plantations, providing employment in rural areas, and reducing demand for imports of expensive and endangered hardwood species from third countries. The project needs to be carried out at the Community level, since there are few workers in Europe with the necessary experience and expertise in the field of cambium activity and wood formation. This proposal involves recognised experts from five Community countries bringing their special skills to bear on the problem in a coherent and co-ordinated way. The vascular cambium and differentiating wood cells in untransformed plants, and plants genetically transformed to have altered endogenous auxin levels, will be studied. At the tissue level, the effect of auxin on rates of cell production and wood anatomy of will be studied. At the cellular level, wood formation will be studied using state of the art and novel techniques of molecular biology, biochemistry and microscopy. Some established techniques will be applied to the vascular cambium for the first time to enable a high resolution study of the effect of this growth substance on fundamental wood formation processes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences medical biotechnology genetic engineering
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries forestry silviculture
- social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity
- engineering and technology materials engineering woodworking
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology
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Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
RG6 2AS Reading
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.